My search for a preschool for Randy.... which I thought would be easy peasy... turned into a crazy frenzy that I had not prepared myself for. Suddenly I became the crazy mom that I remember touring with as a Director.... only (much to the chagrin of the poor poor directors) I had inside trader information and my questions were terrifying......
"I noticed that child went into this empty classroom from outside to use the bathroom while the teacher waited at the door to the playground. Is she still in ratio outside? Is that standard procedure?" ( I actually heard her gulp)
"I see that the posted lesson plan has 'animal hospital' in dramatic play but it has babies in washtubs... do the centers change on Thursdays?" (It was Wednesday.. I'm an a-hole)
"This art looks great. (gesturing to wall) I see that the date of these ones say March on them...is the art center open daily? "
"When this teacher is in the kitchen getting the snack does another teacher step into the classroom to maintain the ratio?" (no... the answer was clearly no.)
These aren't even the worst of my questions. I'm a jerk.
I learned three things touring the first six preschools we visited:
1. I should be proud of what I did as a Director. There was drama and craziness... but hell... put any 20 women under the same roof and what can you expect? We were so VERY far above them ALL in standards that it made my head spin. It made me proud of the work we all did there. The love, professionalism and dedication that flowed so freely and easily. (okay... so the next logical question you are asking is why aren't you just taking him there... that's a long story... involving my stubbornness and a lady with the most offensive perfume I've ever smelled... but that's another story)
2. I had to calm the hell down on these tours. There is absolutely no reason to make these women sweat. I needed to just smile and cross them the frig off my list.
3. I needed to check myself before I wrecked myself.... and our bank account. I began my search with a budget of $300 a month MAX for two days a week (and man that was a bitch to budget) and at the climax of my mentalness was considering a preschool that offered cooking classes, a yoga instructor, three languages, intensive classical music immersion and a whole myriad of craziness for the low low value price of $615 a month. What? Wait, what?!
Soooo... long story short I actually used my smahts for good instead of evil and remembered what the heck preschool is actually for. Preschool is about making my kiddo the most prepared person possible to kick ass in his entire future of school.... while learning a perfect flan is a wonderful skill what he really needs to be able to do is the following:
-Sit still... this may be the most difficult.
-Know when to talk and when to listen.
-Be kind... really kind to everyone. Understand how his actions affect others and give a crap about it.
-Keep him proud of his glorious love of exploration and help him learn to focus it.
-Introduce him to a bunch of different people from different backgrounds... in an environment where they are encouraged to embrace each other for exactly who they are.
-Perfect his 'taking turns' skills... because in these here parts toys are either his or used to be his and therefore he has first dibs because Sammy a. moves slower and b. is genuinely happy to watch Randy play with all his stuff. See my problem?
-Did I already say sit still?
-The date... but this is purely selfish because I never know what the hell day it is.
Oh. and keep him safe.... because, well, the fire that wells up in my belly just thinking about that could burn ice cubes.
All the other stuff.... well.... that's great too! Every song, every book, every messy mess they let him get filthy playing in... all good. He wants to know all sorts of everything... he'll soak it all up. It's 6 hours a week.... I am here the other 162 . I got the rest of this sh*t covered. (and btw... he makes a fine flan already)
So I reined myself in and took some really excellent advice and enrolled him in the City of San Marcos preschool program. It looks clean and fun and full of learning... and he's going to have a flipping blast... and really that's all this Mama gives a crap about.
So...my baby starts school in less than two weeks.
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| 3 months to 3 years in a blink. |
<insert heart squeezing painfully in my chest here>
