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April 15, 2005
We had Zeke's first parent-teacher conference today. It's not exactly kosher to bring the child along to one of these, so Keith went as our Designated Family Representative. He reported back that Zeke's teacher says he is doing very well in preschool. The first week, he hung back a little and mostly stuck close to the teachers, but now he's opening up and making friends. Apparently he has begun inviting other kids to come with him to snacktime, which I think is both cute and a good sign.
I have this horror, borne of my own experiences in school, that none of the other children will like him and that he will not make friends. Keith keeps reassuring me that this is preschool, of course he will make friends, and besides, Zeke is a social little fellow. So far, anyway. I need to stop overanalyzing everything so much.
Anyway, his teacher also reported that Zeke is learning the various "works" very quickly, and that he seems to gravitate towards math and number works. He knows how to count to 10, she told us. (We knew that.) And... that's about all. He's doing well, is the upshot.
On Thursday, I visited the toddler preschool area of the Montessori school, with Stazi in tow. This is in preparation for her enrollment this September. I let her roam around and explore while I watched the goings-on. She mostly stuck close to my side during the indoor play part of the morning, but when we went outside to the playground, she really took off. I deposited her in the sandbox, and she happily crawled around and played and climbed up the little wooden stairs, while I stood and talked to one of the toddler teachers.
The teacher was cool, and I liked her a lot. She talked about her own experiences with her kids in Montessori (they're now in their 20s) and how she feels it's helpful in teaching kids how to organize themselves and self-direct their work and studies. She also told me about how she thinks it's important even at this very early toddler stage to encourage kids to challenge themselves, and let them do things that we as parents might not think they're ready for or capable of.
Just as she was saying this, I looked over to notice that Stazi had managed to crawl all the way to the top of the wooden stairs, and after a brief pause, flung herself down the slide into the sand pit. She looked surprised and then ecstatic and flailed every limb wildly with glee before heading back to the wooden staircase to do it again. I felt this was a cosmic illustration of the point the teacher had just been trying to make.
The teacher (whose name I cannot remember, although I know it started with a D) also explained about how the age from 24-36 months is an ideal time to start letting children help with housework, and encouraging them to do things by themselves, like putting on and taking off clothes, and putting their toys away, and so forth. She talked a lot about how if you build the foundation for self-reliance early, it pays off in later years. I think this is really true, as is her message about how if you challenge kids, they are oftentimes capable of far more than you expect.
The last thing I have to report is that tonight, the neighbor kids (ages approximately 7 and 3) came over and knocked on our back door and asked if Zeke could come out and play. So of course I said yes, and they all had bundles of fun running around in our back yards and climbing on the neighbors' play equipment and sharing bottles of water and Dorito chips and so forth. I was deliriously happy about this development, as it got the kids out of the house for awhile and gave them something to focus on outdoors besides their usual game of "find something dangerous to play on or near and then run into the street with it."
Posted by Jan at April 15, 2005 8:56 PM
Comments
that's one of my favourite things about the kids getting older: OUTSIDE PLAYTIME with the neighbours!
Posted by: christine (jenna) at April 26, 2005 12:57 PM