Hi, my name is Kelly and I write about being a dad. Let me tell you 
I stood at the door of the convent and put my phone to my ear.
"Hi," I said. "I just dropped Alleke off at her classroom, and she was crying."
"Did she say what was wrong?" April asked.
"She told me this morning that she didn't want to go to school, and then when we got to her classroom, she said she didn't want me to leave. When I handed her to her teacher, she reached for me and started to cry."
"Did you stay or did you leave?"
"I left. I said goodbye first, but it didn't seem like it was going to help if I stayed. The teacher walked away with Alleke and tried to distract her at one of the tables where the kids were playing with blocks."
I paused.
"She feels safer with you, you know," I said. "I'm the one who pushes her out there. Today was the first day she cried when I dropped her off, and I wanted to make sure I didn't push her too far. I don't want to be the reason she hates school for the rest of her life."
April laughed.
"So she was with her teacher when you left?" she asked.
"Yes"
"Then she'll be fine," April said. "She's not alone."
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Convent
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9 comments
I work at a pre-school and many children tend to go through a honeymoon phase at the beginning of the school year because they are interested in the new environment. After a week or so, they start to realize that this is becoming a regular thing. She'll come back around soon and realize that the teachers are nice to her and that her parents always come back to get her. Some mornings will be harder drop offs than others, but you were right to hand her over and leave. It will be hard to do that, but you can always call the school after drop off and ask if she calmed down and is doing well.
Yep, I agree with the first comment. In my work at the day care/ after school care I see the exact same thing. With some kids it works if the parent does something together with the child, say a puzzle, and then says goodbye once the child is busy with that activity. But with other children, the longer the parent stays and lingers, the worse it gets, so in that case for the teacher and the child the best thing to do is just for the parent to say goodbye and leave. I think it's probably harder for the parent than the child. Good luck!
Memories, brings back memories only my boy couldn't get thru' the door quick enough and I was the one standing, looking through the doorway in a mist of tears!
Loved your re-telling, so easy to read. Off to read some more!
yikes, i'm not looking forward to this! we live in japan, and our little guy will start preschool in april, when he's just turned three. it will just be mornings, but there aren't many ways to make friends or meet other children here other than school :P
by the way, enjoying SO MUCH being able to read about another family in a cross-cultural setting!
Hi!
I'm Anne Stephanie Cruz, one of your blog followers. I work for www.ownadaycare.com, it's a site dedicated to giving useful information and advice to people who are passionate about having their own daycare business - but don't know where or how to start.
Anyhow, I sent you this email to ask if you would consider having me write a guest post on your blog. It can just be a short article about child care, parenting and daycare, setting up a daycare center - or really anything that you might find interesting.
Please let me know what you think. Thanks in advance!
Sincerely Yours,
Anne Stephanie Cruz
www.ownadaycare.com
Steph@Ownadaycare.com
I'm impressed to see that she isn't spoiled, because beautiful children tend to be spoiled and annoying - I was. Hahaha! Allek, you are the best ♥
Is April working now? Why does Alleke NEED to be away from home, being taken care of by people who are not her parents? I thought that was the point of being a Stay-At-Home-Parent: to stay at home with your kids and NOT send them off to daycare before they start Kindergarten. Just wondering.
Natalie. These are great questions. When I get a chance, I'll do a podcast to answer some of these as best I can. Thanks for asking!
Oh, and please realize these weren't 'that kind' of comments/question!!!! You're awfully well spoken and out spoken about things so I figured there'd be good answers that readers could use in their lives!
In the US there's such a big push to push your kids out of the house quickly under the pretense of teaching the kids independence.
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