There is nothing more terrifying for a first time mom than being at a preschool PTA meeting for one-year-olds, listening to your parent coordinator tell you about how to pick a preschool for your child. Because yes, Kayla goes to preschool and yes at 18 months she's already behind, and yes,the placements for next September are procured at the end of March.
So anyway, there I was, wondering to myself since when gumming on plastic food and throwing sand came to be considered school. Bewildered as those around me debated the various factors to weigh when scouting out preschools: classroom layout, curriculum options, teaching philosophy. It was beyond me what curriculum options or teaching philosophies there might be for someone who thought my toothbrush was a baby doll.
For those of you not privileged enough to be in on this nightmare, let me enlighten you on a process they call "registration". First you research preschools in your area. Then you pick three or four you really like. Then you schedule a classroom tour with the parent coordinator to see if their classroom would be a good fit for your child. Then you fill out applications for all preschools you wish to apply for, and get offered a spot based on the random lottery number assigned to you by the preschool association. Once offered a spot, you must turn in a deposit within one week of the offer, or they will give your spot to the next child on the list.
Now those who know me know that I disdain all forms of alpha-stay-at-home-mom agendas and simultaneously am obsessed with redeeming all forms of alpha-stay-at-home-mom agendas. It goes without saying that I immediately went home that night, researched, visited, and applied to four different placements and ensured Kayla's spot in of course, my top pick. Naturally.
And yet I can't help wondering where exactly in this picture the education is taking place. I am having a hard time reconciling Kayla's premature preschool adventures with the heart transformation and nurturing of the mind I really desire for her.
Deuteronomy 11:18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Unfortunately, training a child in the way they should go is a lot harder and more complex than picking the right preschool. As a parent, it is much easier to focus on the agendas and to-do lists. What is really difficult is the daily, hourly, moment-by-moment instruction that we are truly called to. I am constantly asking myself, am I truly equipped to shepherd a living being, an eternal soul?
Maybe I should just not take myself too seriously.
So anyway, there I was, wondering to myself since when gumming on plastic food and throwing sand came to be considered school. Bewildered as those around me debated the various factors to weigh when scouting out preschools: classroom layout, curriculum options, teaching philosophy. It was beyond me what curriculum options or teaching philosophies there might be for someone who thought my toothbrush was a baby doll.
For those of you not privileged enough to be in on this nightmare, let me enlighten you on a process they call "registration". First you research preschools in your area. Then you pick three or four you really like. Then you schedule a classroom tour with the parent coordinator to see if their classroom would be a good fit for your child. Then you fill out applications for all preschools you wish to apply for, and get offered a spot based on the random lottery number assigned to you by the preschool association. Once offered a spot, you must turn in a deposit within one week of the offer, or they will give your spot to the next child on the list.
Now those who know me know that I disdain all forms of alpha-stay-at-home-mom agendas and simultaneously am obsessed with redeeming all forms of alpha-stay-at-home-mom agendas. It goes without saying that I immediately went home that night, researched, visited, and applied to four different placements and ensured Kayla's spot in of course, my top pick. Naturally.
And yet I can't help wondering where exactly in this picture the education is taking place. I am having a hard time reconciling Kayla's premature preschool adventures with the heart transformation and nurturing of the mind I really desire for her.
Deuteronomy 11:18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Unfortunately, training a child in the way they should go is a lot harder and more complex than picking the right preschool. As a parent, it is much easier to focus on the agendas and to-do lists. What is really difficult is the daily, hourly, moment-by-moment instruction that we are truly called to. I am constantly asking myself, am I truly equipped to shepherd a living being, an eternal soul?
Maybe I should just not take myself too seriously.
1 comments:
Kayla sure loves that sweater...
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