Well, That Was Kind of Awful
Peeper's teachers report that yesterday was "much better than last week," but the part I actually saw was pretty traumatic for everyone involved.
She was absolutely hysterical before we ever got in the car. She calmed down on the way there, when we were talking about The Wizard of Oz, but by the time we got there, so was revved back up.
It was all I could do not to just turn around and bring her home.
Once I finally pried her off of me and told her goodbye, I talked to the director for a few minutes, and before I left, I asked her peek in and see how she was doing. At that point, she wasn't crying, and was sitting in the teacher's lap, reading a book.
I think it may have been The Kissing Hand
Then I went to coffee at the Target Starbucks with some MOMS Club friends, two of whom have kids at the same MDO, and one of whom had seen us there that morning.
I called the school around 10:30 to check on her, and at that point, she'd been crying off and on, but much better than last week, and was excited about the upcoming puppet show. If she'd still been a mess, I would have gone back then, but I let her stay for the show, and went back at the beginning of lunch.
When I got there, Mrs. D told me that she'd been singing and dancing during the puppet show, but when we got to the room, she was sort of crying again.
We stuck around long enough for her to eat a little bit and then came on home - after she'd had a chance to spill her entire kid-size skinny caramel mocha decaf 100' coffe that I brought her from Starbucks.
Ack.
We've paid through the end of the month, so we will stick it out until then, which is two more weeks. If she's not significantly happier by then, we'll have to seriously reconsider.
There's absolutely no reason that she has to do this now, and if nobody's having fun, then all we're accomplishing is making her hate school, which is pretty much the opposite of our goal.
We may just have to cut our losses, take a step back, and think about trying it again in the fall - when she's six months older - and possibly with a different program, where they stay more like two hours instead of four (leaving before nap time) or five (which it will be next year, because that class doesn't nap).
That sounds like a good plan. If things improve over the next couple of weeks, fantastic. If not, well then, you know she is not ready for this and you don't have to wonder.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, 6 months from now is huge difference developmentwise at that age. You may be on the right track with the idea of a shorter program too.
If it doesn't end up flying now, y'all can just assess the situation then.
I think, also, if we switched to a different program, it might help to avoid a possible "Wait a minute, I hated this place before!" reaction.
ReplyDeleteAnd, 2 or 2.5 hours vs 5 could be much better. And, there's one that's a bit closer to home, does not require on-street metered parking, and is in the church where MOMS Club meets, so she's already semi-familiar with the location.
We actually went over and looked in one of the rooms after our craft this morning, but no one was there to talk to.
That does all sound like a plus. It may turn into a moot point though, because after she goes another time or two, her opinion may turn around. Or not.
ReplyDeleteJust for perspective, #1 was 4 and a few weeks when he started preschool. He went 3 hours a day, 3 times a week and he loved it.
Now that I think about it, on Wednesdays they took their lunch and stayed 4.5 hours, I think it was, and he loved doing that.
ReplyDeleteFrappa started MDO sometime while she was 2, then preschool 3 days a week at 3 and she did have tears at times.
There is a big difference in 3 and 4.