Stated simply, separation anxiety is the distress that children feel when they are separated from a primary caregiver, in most cases the mother. Separation anxiety usually becomes evident in children beginning when they are around six months of age. This is because by six months of age most infants have developed a very strong attachment to their primary caregivers and this strong attachment leads to feeling of great distress when the primary caregiver and the child must be separated.
Separation anxiety can continue off and on, though usually in milder forms, throughout childhood.
It can be quite intense during infancy, with this intensity gradually decreasing as children get older and become more and more accustomed to being separated from their primary caregivers. It is normal for children to feel some sort of distress or upset when separated from parents, especially separations for long periods of time. Older children may be just fine playing by themselves, but then experience difficulty, for example, when their parents go out for an evening, leaving them at home with a sitter. At first, separations are often very difficult for both children and their primary caregivers, but as parents and their children become accustomed to being apart, the process usually becomes easier. Since it is impossible for parents to spend every waking moment with their children, separations are inevitable.