BEEP

[miekec]

Today is Karin's first day at a new program. Where she used to be at a daycare center before, she's now at BEEP - the Brookline Early Education Program. Kind of in between daycare and "real school"; it's physically in a real elementary school, but with no academic pressure or children left behind and such. It also happens to be the
Lawrence school, the same school that Alex went to until he had to go to Wellesley schools, and the Lawrence Extended Day Program ("LEDP") is the same program he was in for those years.

Of course, this switch to a new school wasn't a surprise for her. We had talked about it many times in the past month and there was a goodbye-party at daycare for all the kids that were leaving by the end of August. We had talked about the time line, that daycare would end, we'd go on vacation to grandpa and grandma, and then she was going to start at the new school. Of course we infused the words "new school" with enthusiasm and lots of shiny. She was going to a big girl school.

There had been some introductory things there; a few times in the past year we had been there for an intro, parent info meeting, and last week for an hour of one-on-one time with just Karin and John. She had obvious mixed feelings about all of this. A new school was exciting, but scary. The old daycare was no fun anymore, but she knew how to manipulate almost everyone. And for the last few months there, she had been increasingly complaining that she didn't want to go there. She wanted to stay home. With me. Logic was no part in this, she wanted it no matter what. The how and why of these emotions and (bad) behavior was not completely clear to me, but I hope that the change of school and consequent new challenges will do her good. There are more qualified teachers here, and there are also many support services for them to draw upon. Or more concretely - these teachers should know more about consistency and not letting her get out of control, and there's a social/behavioral person to help them out if needed.

I'm really curious (and a little anxious) about the next few weeks...

Comments

[sheilat57.livejournal.com]

It's so fascinating to watch your kids develop through all these stages - a possible explanation for the 'wanting to stay home with you' phase is the 'separation anxiety' phase, which usually happens around 4-1/2 or so, when they suddenly realise that you are not an extension of them but a separate person, but that is very scary for them (because there is the chance that you might choose to leave them behind), so they cling on for a while. My response to that with my kids was to actually give them more of my time for a little while, although still maintaining playschool routine (playschool goes on till 5 years old in the UK, at which point they go to primary school). It didn't take long (a few weeks, maybe 5-6?) until they were ready to be more independent and start enjoying looking outwards again, but with more security that you were actually still going to be there for them ...

[(Anonymous)]

My fingers are crossed. I think that this is just the ting she needs. Good luck to both of you :)

[powerfrau.livejournal.com]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. As kids go through school some meet teachers who do not let themselves be manipulated and some who do. It varies, all the way through graduation. I was in the former camp. Clearly defined boundaries really help children...