My children started their new year of school today. For the past two years they've been in what Montessori schools call, "Toddler House". They have now graduated to, "Children's House" and will stay there for two to three-years. They will experience the classroom in a mixed-age environment, learning from the older children at first and then becoming the older children and then helping the younger children as they grow.
They were excited. They loved their first day with their new teachers. My daughter told me on the way home from school, "I have two new friends, Anne and Susan". Anne and Susan are her two teachers. I spoke with Anne later in the day and she told me there was very little crying and that she enjoyed the morning after getting accustomed to the new classroom.
Do you remember the first day of school in a new classroom? Some people don't have a lot of memories from their elementary school or pre-school days. I have specific memories, and definitely some of the first days of school. It's daunting to enter into a new environment and see all new people in a strange classroom.
My children did a few visitations to their new classrooms at the end of last year, but that was months ago and months of time to a toddler is years ago to us as adults.
This morning before school we got the children dressed in their school shirts and put them on the front porch for a, "first day of school" photo. They didn't want to take the picture. They were only interested in getting in the car and going to school (which I didn't want to discourage). What did I do? I bribed them.
They're children. They have absolutely no interest in, "you'll appreciate these pictures when you're older." They don't even know what, "when you're older" means. My cousin told me years ago that when I had children I would bribe them, because it was a necessary evil of being a parent. And she was right. I don't mind bribing, especially when it serves my purpose and it helps a child figure out there is, in fact, something in it for them if they will just sit still and smile for thirty seconds.
They got gummy bears. I got a good first day of school picture.
The Big Boy Update: At the natural park/playground yesterday my son got in a big pit with a shovel and dug a very large mess. On the way out of the park he picked up some puffer mushrooms and squeezed the spores out all over his hands and arms. He looked up at me and said—and this was a first—"I need a bath."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter still wants to smell everything. She really likes to smell things that you can't smell, say, like salt or sugar. And...because this is important...she likes to snort out instead of sniffing in when she smells. It makes her happy though, so we don't complain.
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