My Little Pre-Schooler
Thaïs started pre-school on the 5th of June. It’s been just about 3 weeks and she has started grumbling already. Everyday we pick her up from school and she asks, “School again tomorrow?” It’s amazing - in two short weeks she has grasped the concept of a weekend. She calls it her ‘holidays’. Every other day she asks, “When are my holidays?”
This is all quite surprising, since she was the one eager to start school. In fact I had planned to hold her back another year, and teach her at home what she would have learned during her first year at pre-school. Looking through her syllabus for the year, I found that she is already familiar with half of what they’re going to be doing. But ever since she was two, she had been asking about school and how soon she could start. Seeing her cousins go to school, I guess she wanted to start, too.
Her attitude towards school changed once she actually started going. First it was the uniform. She HATES dresses and absolutely refuses to wear them. A three-year-old with a stubborn mind of her own! What’s to become of me as she gets older?!?!? Anyway, when she found that she had no choice, she relented and agreed to wear the ’stupid’ dress. (That’s what she calls it! I actually asked the school authorities if it would be OK for her to wear shorts like the boys do, but they refused. Yes, I’m crazy… I know that.)
Second, I think she’s getting picked on in school. This, in itself, is surprising, coz she’s normally quite a bully 
Everyday she comes back complaining about how the bigger children pinched her or pushed her. I’m not sure about the pinching bit, but the pushing bit is true since she came home that day with her uniform all muddy. She had obviously fallen down. So we questioned the teacher. Her reply? “Oh, they were just playing.”
And so begin the quandaries of parenthood. Do I step in and let it be known to the bullies how I feel exactly? Maybe shake them till their teeth rattle?? Or do I do nothing and let Thaïs handle it herself? Or do I tell Thaïs what to do the next time she gets bullied? As in, ‘an eye for an eye’ kind of attitude…. Hmm.. any suggestions?
OK.. enough about school for today. Now, this post seems incomplete without me making fun of my little angel. Here’s a new excuse for not eating that she came up with recently:
Thaïs: But mummy, I can’t have dinner now. I just ate some biscuits.
Me: You ate those biscuits hours ago, it’s dinner time now.
Thaïs: But please… I’m not hungry. If I eat now, they’ll fight..
Me: What?
Thaïs: They’ll fight.
Me: Who’ll fight?
Thaïs: The biscuits… they’ll fight with all the food… in my ’stung-up’ (stomach)! I might get a ’stung-up cake’ (stomach-ache)!
June 26th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
That's so cute. Kids' perspectives on the way things work are beautifully eloquent and insightful. About the pushing and pulling. I remember these days vividly. I understand the natural desire to shake those kids.
Just remember that one day it could be your child whom another parent wants to shake because she's been doing the pushing. Kids do stuff like this. It's part of their world - and it's a learning time for them in daycare, that's why some call it "socialisation" … So on that note, I'd be talking calmly with the carers and letting them know about it. Asking them what's the centre's policy on this and how do help kids move past this behaviour. Ask them for reassurance that your little one is safe here. They do have duty of care and while they can't possibly see everything that goes on, they owe it to you and your daughter to offer safety. Let us all know how that goes.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Thanks Pete!