Some might think I am crazy. But am I?
Yes, I did it...I put my 18 month old in school. But, Before you judge, give me the chance to explain.
I will start by saying, I was very conflicted about it. I don't think if we were in Canada I would have done it. However we are not, and our life is much different over here. For example, there are many fun interactive activities in Canada that I would have my children participate in. We would go to rhyme time, and time for 2's at the library. We would meet up with other mom's and kids to go swimming, play at a park, or in someones toy room for the morning. I would call friends up to watch my kids while I went to an appointment or had to work or we would have others to our house. My kids would have nursery and primary on Sunday. We would have grandparents to visit and cousins to play with. All of the above activities help promote normal, social skills. They give kids a chance to interact on lots of different levels with lots of different kids. Very healthy developmental situations. Non of the above activities are available to my kids here in the Philippines. Even if we can do a few of the things such as go swimming it's usually just our family.
One day I left Scarlett with Lance for a while. When I came back he said she cried the whole time, asking for "Mama" Then he said - "She's so addicted to you." I started thinking about that and my conclusion was, of course she is! What did I expect? I was with her all the time. Not me and a bunch of other mom's and kids....just me and her. It was true, she was SEVERELY ADDICTED to me. I decided that things had to change......but how? Where could we go, in the Philippines, to start teaching her how to be a little more independent? How to play with and interact with other kids her age? Where they actually speak English? Preshool. It was the only answer I could come up with - I decided to give it a try. It's the same School Isabelle goes to. Her and Scarlett are in different classes though, obviously because of their ages. They start kids at the age of 1.3 years old. The class names are so cute. Gummy Bears, Teddy bears, Panda Bears, then Brown Bears. Scarlett is a Gummy and Isabelle is a Panda.
Scarletts Teachers name is ~Teacher Summer ~ and she's just the best ever! (as her name implies!) She said I could come in with Scarlett everyday for a week to help ease her transition. The first day just confirmed that my decision to enroll her was bang on. You may think I am going to say she jumped off my lap and excitedly started playing in this cozy, colorful classroom full of smiling kids and tonz of books and toys.....
Wrong. That was not the case....just the opposite in fact. She clung to me and cried and cried and cried. I just kept thinking WOW....this is so what she needs. She had no idea how to play with these kids and she was terrified. I was even more determined. So we kept going and slowly she started to get better. Just a little more comfortable each day.
We immediately started noticing changes in her at home. She was trying to be more independent. Letting Dad help her with things more often, wanting to sit at the big table, wanting to drink out of a big cup instead of a sippy, wanting to wash her hands by herself - like they always do at school before snack time. Joining in clean up time - like they do at school.
It's been about 4 weeks now and she is doing great. As soon as she get's up in the morning she asks me if we can go to school. She squeals when we get her uniform on saying "teacher Summer, teacher summer" about a bazillion times. After about 3 weeks her teacher approached me and asked "Could you please send juice with Scarlett's lunch instead of water? I said "sure I guess so, how come?" She said, well Scarlett is the only one who has water and she keeps trying to steal other classmates juice and give them her water! I started laughing, I guess she's doing ok if she's already bargaining and trading her lunch drink away!
She goes for 2 hours, 5 days a week. I am not going to lie, I am really enjoying the free time. I honestly put her in school for her. However, it does give me 2 hours, to myself, everyday. I usually go to the gym, or get groceries, or do running around, or sit in a cafe and read my book. I actually have a chance to miss the kids and they have a chance to miss me. We are all so excited at pick up time and we have fun, relaxing afternoons together. My nerves and patience aren't shot at the end of the day. I think it's very healthy for mom's to have a chance to miss their kids, just a little. I find it helps me appreciate the time we are together, I feel like a better mom. My kid's get the socialization/education they need and I get time to do my thing. A win win.
So there you have it.... am I crazy or not? You decide.
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| Her mouth is full of chocolate granola bar...she's happy as ever! |
