What did your kindergarten kid learn at school (or on the bus!) that you wish they hadn’t?

[Stay tuned to the end of this post for an announcement about our giveaway winner! To be entered in the next drawing, just comment on this article, then check out [...]]]> QUESTION OF THE DAY

What did your kindergarten kid learn at school (or on the bus!) that you wish they hadn’t?

[Stay tuned to the end of this post for an announcement about our giveaway winner! To be entered in the next drawing, just comment on this article, then check out the giveaways page to find out how you can get extra entries!]
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It’s tough when your kids go off into the world without you. All those hours you have spent reading them books with morals, feeding them only quality TV, coaching them through playgroups and playdates at awkward ages (“we don’t hit our friends!”)…all of that is about to go out of the window as we entrust our darlings to a bunch of strangers, and worse: the children of utter strangers.

But hey, it’s a school (a Catholic school, in my case). Everyone’s qualified. The other kids won’t be that bad, not to kindergartners, surely? And how much of a bad influence could the other children be anyway, you ask yourself. After all, it’s only elementary school.

O-kay…

Let me take you back in time to last February. That evening I wrote in my journal about my just-turned-six-year-old angel:

So, A came home the other day telling me that a seven year old had been sent to the principal for,

“Doing this,” he says, flipping me the bird (i.e. raising his middle finger).

Now, where I grew up, the middle finger was nothing but an unorthodox way of counting ‘one’, (we have our own, home-grown obscene gestures, thank you very much) but I know enough about American culture to know that this is A Bad Thing. I dutifully expressed disapproval, concern and a little astonishment, before I emphasized that it was rude and disrespectful and that he was never, EVER to do it.

[CUT TO TODAY]

The bus arrives. The bus driver holds her arm out so the kids can’t get off, and beckons me over.

Imagine my pride when when she told me that, in amongst a lot of other un-busworthy behaviour, my darling six-year-old had been gaily flipping his middle finger around at all and sundry.

His response?

“I was doing it behind my back!”

Because, you know, that helps.

His admission of guilt was quickly followed by a desperate, “Don’t tell Da-a-ad!”

Not with a straight face, I won’t.

…

We have had a chat.
There will be no shopping trips this weekend.
(Or maybe ever.)
And he’s writing a letter of apology to the bus driver.

And so it begins…

And I know this truly is only the beginning. I’m going to look back on this in years to come and wonder why I got so embarrassed and horrified by this little semi-innocent transgression. I don’t like this knowledge, but let’s be realistic, shall we?

Still, at least I know I can definitely blame other people’s children for this one.

That’s some comfort

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To be entered in the drawings, just comment here and check out the giveaways page to see how to score extra entries.

I’m particularly pleased that Onna won because, apart from being an early supporter here, she runs a wonderful website (http://toddlercraft.net) that is full of simple crafty ideas for, you guessed it, doing with your toddler.

Next week’s give away is a set of phonics reader books. These have been a wonderful tool to help me teach my early-reader boys to read (the four year old is sounding out letters and words now, so I’ve been breaking them out again). Scooby-Doo is a big hit in our house, so I’ve chosen this set for next weeks’ prize:

Comment, comment, comment, blog about this, link, tweet, retweet…and win! Good luck!

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“It’s time to fill in the forms for Kindergarten.” “But it’s January!” “I know.” “But he’s not even five yet. I can’t imagine…” “I know!”

This was the conversation in our house last winter. OK, the conversation was mostly in my head, [...]]]> QUESTION OF THE DAY
Think back to the day you filled in the forms for kindergarten. How did YOU feel?

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“It’s time to fill in the forms for Kindergarten.”
“But it’s January!”
“I know.”
“But he’s not even five yet. I can’t imagine…”
“I know!”

This was the conversation in our house last winter. OK, the conversation was mostly in my head, rather than with my husband, but it still happened. (What? After four years hanging out with young kids, you weren’t talking to yourself too?)

It’s not quite as bad as trying to picture what your one-year old will be like in nine months’ time, but I still had a hard time imaginging my four year old two full seasons from now. Even worse, the school offered a choice of sign-up options: half day, full day, half day with lunch bunch, before care, after care.

(I hate choices.)

Half day or full day? How to weigh his needs and my needs and his little brother’s needs, and oh yes my husband too, and do it all in a crystal ball looking nine months ahead?

We were in a period where my high-energy, structure-loving boy already viewed Time At Home as time to run headlong into his two year old brother, head-to-head if possible, and I just couldn’t see that getting any better. The thought of another year of long afternoons peeling them apart sent several shivers down my spine, and made my head ache in that ‘I’m about to explode’ kind of way. To be honest, if half day had finished at what I considered a reasonable time, I might have signed him up for it, but it finished at 11.30! 11.30? That’s solidly ‘morning’ in my book, and ‘before lunch’ besides. 11.30?

Besides, I reasoned, he’d be six by the middle of the year and where I come from (Scotland) kids that age are in their first full year of school, no discussion. (“Who cares what thirty years of scholarship might have told us about the relative values of early childhood versus academic programs? I did it, and so can he,” my brain shouted, drowning out the sling-wearing, breast-feeding, co-sleeping, natural childbirth voice that had been in charge until now.)

I was leaning heavily towards full-day kindergarten, based partly on my perception of A’s need for structure and stimulation, combined with his love of learning, and partly on the needs of the rest of the family: my need to recover from four years of trying to keep up with him full time, my husband’s need to not come home to a basket-case of a wife every day, and my younger son’s need to keep his head in one piece.

Of course, my insane four-year old turned five and promptly spent the summer mellowing and learning how to make his little brother laugh (and worship him just a little more, if that was possible), and becoming a delight to spend time with.

I think now that we would have survived quite nicely spending the afternoons together this year, but of course, we’ll never know because I had long ago ticked the box for “Full Day Kindergarten”, 8 am – 3 pm.

As I handed in the forms I felt hopeful, excited, and slightly sick. I was worried it was the wrong decision. I felt guilty about sending him all day, even though I was (almost) sure he would be ready for it. I was really nervous in a generalized sort of way and second-guessed myself every time I thought about my decision.

But I am, after all, a mother.

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QUESTION OF THE DAY
Think back to the day you filled in the forms for kindergarten. How did YOU feel?

Comment below or post on your blog and leave a link here.

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