Pre-school

Addison started in the pre-school class at her daycare when we returned from Walt Disney World last week. The first day (as expected) was rough for drop off since she'd been out for 3 weeks because of her hospital stay, then we kept her out the following week because of holiday and leaving for vacation and then we were in Florida for the week after that. She worked herself up into a frenzy of nerves and anticipation about going back to daycare. We were greeted with a new routine when we arrived: new room, new place to put her coat and shoes, etc., but her teacher came over with her as well as a few girls from her toddler class so I think there was enough familiarity to not be so overwhelming. Since she couldn't see me after I left the room she stopped crying almost immediately.


So, she liked pre-school class except for the fact that she keeps saying she doesn't want to go back to the pre-school class. Trust me, she likes it. She practically leaps into the center now and is excited to turn in her homework. Yes, she has homework. The first day wasn't so bad and seemed age appropriate to me. The other days it seemed way too advanced and she didn't have fun with it. In fact, it was frustrating to her because she didn't know the answers we were trying to help her come up with and we were frustrated because we're not teachers and don't know how to help her. To me, that does not make a good homework assignment for a 3 year old. It should be fun, not like homework. She's just 3. I get the whole concept of getting the parents involved in the whole learning process of a child, but I think we all felt it was a little too much. At this stage learning should be fun.

The other thing is they make them wear uniforms. We got 1 long sleeved black shirt to last the whole week. She has to wear solid black pants too. It's quite boring and dull and it makes me think that they look like an urban militia or gang or something. I try to liven it up a little with bright hair bows and crazy socks, but in reality it's just a drab black uniform. They're not even going anywhere, so I'm not sure why they have to wear the uniform. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe Addison was looking too darn cute for everyone else in her cute outfits that they had to tame everyone down and make them all look the same. This seriously stifles our creativity...hers and mine and limits her decision making about her appearance in the mornings. I think it's time to find a new daycare. We need choices and we need to look CUTE! Black is not flattering. Even Clinton and Stacy would agree that head to toe black looks terrible.