We survived week 1 of play school! It wasn’t without it tears but thankfully only for about 5 minutes on the 2nd day when she refused to let her teacher feed her lunch. Other than that, I am told our daughter is doing great!
Admittedly, 16 months may be a little young to send her off to playschool since the norm is usually 18 months especially amongst my friends who have some form of home care support. And because we have my mum who has been helping us take care of Jules since I went back to work after maternity, finding a playschool/nursery wasn't going to be on our to-do list till she was 2.5-3 and ready for pre-nursery. But as we observed Jules over the past months sometime towards the end of last year, we found her getting increasingly restless and bored with staying home. If she wasn’t on the phone talking to her imaginary friend, she’ll be busy pulling out the tees in grandpa’s wardrobe. If not, she’ll be in the pantry, pretending to drink up the cans of coke light and grandpa’s beer. Otherwise, you’ll find her pulling tissue from the tissue box and helping grandma clean the floor. It was all nice and cute to watch but not exactly the best form of stimulation I’ll like to give her at this age.
The husband and I thought it may be a better idea to send her off to playschool just for a couple of hours, a few days a week. That way, she got to interact with other kids, pick up some new skills, be introduced to Phonics and more importantly some form of Mandarin and be on her own to hone her independence. It also gave my mum a few hours break in the morning to run her own errands and take a breather (because looking after Jules the entire day while we’re at work is can be like running the half marathon because our daughter is this energizer bunny who runs on adrenaline and doesn’t believe is slowing down to rest – she’s very much like me in that aspect) – something we figured she’ll appreciate.
We had some simple criteria as far as choosing a school was concern. 1st – Distance. It shouldn’t be too far from home, ideally within walking distance so that mum or my helper could pick her up at mid-day since we could do the drop off in the morning. 2nd – A good mix of learning from phonics and Chinese class to more fun music and movement, art and craft, sensory play kind of activities. Our first choice was the Little Skool House located in a semi-detach house just 10 minutes walk from home but when we called to make enquiries, we were told they were relocating and handing over the place to another operator. I also called up Pat Schoolhouse which is also within walking distance but was put off by their arrogance over the phone. I appreciate that they have won numerous awards for their programmes but if arrogance is something you’re going to be teaching my daughter then no thank you. With all the schools near home exhausted (there ain’t many, just 2 – or so I thought), we were introduced to a development centre about 5 minutes drive from home. We went for a trial class and Jules seemed to enjoy herself but I was a little concern with the distance and the curriculum. The distance wasn’t something we couldn’t work around but just not the most ideal since it meant getting my Dad involved in sending her to school and my Mum taking a bus out to pick her and hailing a cab with her after school rain or shine. I also wasn’t entirely comfortable with the curriculum (or lack of). They were housed in a row of shophouses which means no open spaces for the kids to run or for outdoor activities. But my folks convinced that since it’s meant to be playschool, we didn’t have to be so concerned with the curriculum. We were all prepared to place a deposit since we couldn’t find any other schools nearer home. Thankfully – call it mummy's intuition – I kept procrastinating about putting a deposit at the school as I just felt we haven’t tried searching hard enough or doing enough homework in getting Jules a reasonably good school. And so with some prayer, God led me to one of the connecting streets near home one day when I accidentally missed my usually turning and had to turn into the next street. A signboard caught my attention and I of course did the next best thing I had to do – call to make enquiries. The teacher on the line was warm and friendly (unlike my experience with Pat’s Schoolhouse) and suggested we went down to the school for a viewing. And the rest they say is history. The husband immediately liked the school, he was so eager, he wanted to write out the cheque to make a deposit there and then. That was before the Chinese New Year but Teacher S was nice enough to say she trusted us and that we could make the payment after the New Year and perhaps bring Jules down to the centre as well to take a look. The montessori takes in children from 2 months to 6 years. They’re housed in a huge bungalow with a big garden (with slides and pretend play houses) for the kids to play and run around. They also have water-play sessions messy art and craft sessions outdoors. What I like also like is how they appreciate the needs of different parents and so have flexi programmes available to suit individual needs – half days, full days, 3 times a week, 5 times a week. You choose what suits you best. And because I still wanted to keep Jules home for her naps and didn’t want to ‘stress’ her with having to go to school every day, we decided to put her on a 3 mornings a week programme. So today, the arrangement is for my mum to walk her to school (about 15 minutes) in the stroller and either myself or the husband will try to drive back during lunchtime to pick her up (to spare them from walking in the scorching sun at mid-day).
Jules is with the 12-18 months old class now. Come May, she’ll move on to the toddler class. But being the ‘I have a mind of my own’ girl she is, I got feedback from her teacher this week that she keeps wanting to join the toddler class and even opened the door to the toddler class session wanting to go in and join them. She also won’t eat her lunch because she refused to be fed by her teacher with the rest of the 12 -18 months old kids, much preferring to eat together downstairs where the big toddler girls and boys have their lunch on little kiddie tables. On my day off yesterday, the teacher asked if I could go by during lunch to feed her so that they could observe any particular feeding habits she had. So we put her with the big kids at the table and I fed her and she ate perfectly. I think it’s a combination of not being used to a stranger feeding her and wanting to be amongst the “action” where all the bigger kids are. Plus there actually only 3 of them (including her) in the 12 -18 months old class so I think she wants company and be amongst the crowd. It probably also has to do with the fact that as far as playing with children is concern, she is most familiar with playing with Sophie who is older than her and a big Che Che. Which probably explains why she wants to be with the toddlers. My dad was convinced she was looking for Sophie amongst the crowd!
Well but the not eating lunch and wanting to be amongst older kids aside, I think Jules has done great for the first week! I was half expecting her to cry when I dropped her off yesterday but she didn’t and happily opened her arms for her teacher to carry her. Even blew me a kiss as I said bye! When I picked her up the past few days, she was all ready with a big surprise smile (as if wondering “Eh – where have you been the past 3 hours Mama?”). I’ll carry her up and plant a big kiss on the sweaty, sticky face!! But this time, her uniform will be all out of her oversized boomers, she would also have misplaced her hair clip so her fringe will be all over her tiny face. Still adorable!
My little pumpkin is all grown up now and off to school. I felt both proud and a tinge sad when I left her behind on the first day of school. Proud that she was big enough to be on her own for a while now but at the same time a little sad that my little girl is perhaps not so little any more. The house was also unbearably quiet for that few hours without her at home - haven't been like that since she discovered her voice!
Well, new phase for her and for us. I'm just happy she’s embracing change like a real trooper! Atta girl!
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| Playing happily in the playhouse at school |
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