Growing Pains
Originally published at As My Life Is. You can comment here or there.
This was Clare yesterday morning, when I tried to wake her for school. She not only refused to get up, she also said that she didn’t want to go to school. I wasn’t too surprised because I knew she had a hard time during the second half of her orientation, when all 14 students were in class together.
There are a couple of gregarious boys in class who snatch, shove and kick. Clare, being the tiniest one in the class, usually ends up suffering the brunt of it. This is not to say that she’s innocent of all things physical though - she pushed a girl because said girl was staring at her going down a slide. Ah, the joys of 2 to 3 year olds gathered together.
Day Four of orientation, Clare cried silently when she couldn’t find me when the class made their way to the toilet to wash their hands (I fell behind to chat with another mother, and I wanted to see if she could do it without looking for me).
For a moment, I actually started wondering if pre-nursery was too early for her to start school. Afterall, she is an October baby, which makes her one of the younger few in class. I started school at four, and was fine. But Clare’s just a little over two. Furthermore, it was really difficult having to stand by and watch her learn to defend herself. At least, I tried to teach her such as telling kids who shove her to stop it, to tell the teacher if anything hurts, and to ask for more food if she’s still hungry after lunch.
However, I’ve heard many wonderful things about her teacher, about how great she is with the kids and that she’s very experienced. I feel much better knowing that Clare’s in good hands. And I guess, I should learn to let go from trying to protect my little girl from everything forever.
It’s been two days since school has resumed normal activities for her, which also means that I’m not in class with her anymore. Both mornings, she screamed her lungs out when I left her. But other parents and her teachers told me that she stopped soon after, which was good. And she seemed none worse for the wear when I picked her up after school.
