When Grant went to preschool, the school encouraged is to stick around for as long as we needed to.  So, I did that for the first 2 days and then told Grant that he needed to be on his own in school so that he could make new friends and do things w/o mommy.  He was not happy about it and it only took one time (with a note to mom... the preschool is big on kids expressing their feelings:)) before he found that he could separate from me and have fun on his own.  I think once they get their wings of independence, things get a lot easier.

BTW... I hear you on Mothering being too granola sometimes.