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As I bid my 2 year old farewell….
By bigpumpkin | August 31, 2006
Tee, of late has been choosing others’ company to mine. While that finally means HURRAY for me (more reading time, more writing time, more anything ME time!), I can’t help but feel responsible that……maybe I am not entertaining her enough. Maybe I’m not interesting enough. Maybe I’m just not a good enough mom.
The girl is bored of me. *sob*…Her mom……*sniff*
Our Velcro doesn’t stick so tight anymore…..the greatest joy I’ve ever felt for a while now, is slipping…..not like a ‘wet live fish off your hands’ slipping but like ‘your finger hanging off a window ledge holding on for dear life’ kind of slipping. I feel the heartbreak of a teenager being ditched by her first childhood sweetheart and it is pulling at my heart strings. My world….. is about to crumble.
Not one to give up easily, I resolve to find a solution of reversal. More determined than ever, I dug out relevant books from the library, searched relentlessly over the net, sought advice from all who’d give it and cried to my shrink. Then a light bulb flashed. IT’S TIME TO SEND HER TO PLAYSCHOOL! If she went to playschool, she’d be so busy and entertained all morning, surely she’d miss me and decide again that I am the centre of her Universe, even if only for two thirds of a day.
But how does one decide which playschool? After asking around for some reputably decent playschools, I go on a playschool hunt with Tee. We schedule appointments, ask tons of questions, sniff around like dogs, have eyes behind our heads and scrutinise the fine print. It’s only Playschool, for God’s sake, but still……
Here are our findings:
School A
- follows the Montessori method, that is to teach through 5 main categories being
Reading and Writing, Culture and Languages, Nature and Our Universe, Math and Science, Motor Skills and Sensory Perception (I think). What got my attention was, the principal said that the Montessori method teaches practical skills to children and makes them grounded and ready for real life - it’s philosophy was to be as natural as possible, thus stories like Cinderella and Snow White (make believe) are not encouraged as it belonged to the fantasy world. What? No Cinderella for Tee? Now THAT was news to me. - I liked the school’s facilities. A corner house with a huge, huge garden, there was lots of open space for outdoor play and a lovely eating area. There were very interesting ‘Montessori’ equipment ala timber rods of all lengths, little beakers for practising pouring of beans, fluids, sand, pebbles et al, and the same with jars for mixing and stirring, a dressing turnstile which taught kids to put buttons on, use a zipper, tie laces/ribbons etcetera and lots more cool ‘Montessori’ gadgets. Plus everything was…. c…l….e….a……n.
- I LOVED the fact that they served a different menu every single day for a whole month! Like if you had Bolognese today, you won’t be having it again for a whole month. Divine….this is the only school in town that does this. Better still, the aroma of cooking signalled a double thumbs up, when we visited just before lunch time.
- I did not like the fact that younger toddlers were confined to a room the size of a toilet. The principal quickly clarified by saying the school was expanding to bigger premises in 2 months as they had clearly run out of space.
School B
- We actually attended a trial class for this school, gladly so because I was gob-smacked that someone actually held Tee’s attention for a whole 2 hours. I kid you not. This school believes in learning through fun and drama. If kids have fun, they will learn better and faster and be nurtured into becoming little confident troopers. The teacher was super talented and so animated that Tee was captivated, just as the other kids. Perfect!
- The location of the school sucked because we had to cross a big road from where you could park. Even if they had someone attempt to help you cross the street, with a toddler and bags in tow, and their finished art/craft for the day to take home, crossing a big road is as fun as waking after two hours of sleep with a wicked hangover to go bird watching.
- The whole facility was innovative and conducive to enjoyment learning. A superb playground, clean and cute mini toilets, a tree house as the reading room, alphabet pet puppets….…all brand new. They also had quality educational toys that allowed children to stretch their imagination which Tee immediately took a liking to.
- The school is expensive. We’re talking ‘I could get a new car with that money’ kind of expensive. And it doesn’t even serve lunch! Which means, I still have to worry about cooking/buying Tee lunch after paying them the car I so dream of having. Are they fucking hallucinating?
What do you parents look for when you consider sending a toddler to school? In my time, kids only started going to school at 4 or 5 years old. Why is it that the trend here is to send kids early? Shit, I have friends who’ve started sending theirs at 18 months old! And double shit, everyone around me has their tot in school by age 2! Am I ready for Tee to start catching all sorts of diseases at school? Why do I feel such a dilemma? Will Tee get even MORE bored of me if she continues staying at home with me for another year? How important is it for a 2 year old to go to playschool? Am I over-thinking this playschool thing?
Oh dear, what should I do?
Topics: Pumpkin Learning, The Pumpkin life |
4 Responses to “As I bid my 2 year old farewell….”
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June 10th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
i’m taking notes from you. i’m ready to send DJ to a preschool. at least for 2 days a week. i think it will be great for him. i think it will be great for Tee too
Tee started with 2 days a week (accompanied) then she grew out of that so it’s full 5 days a week now (unaccompanied). She LOVES it. And the teachers LOVE her!