Buddies and Pals Nursery School
Buddies and Pals Nursery School
By Kate Chamberlin
The tension is mounting. We have sent in Tyler’s
application to our local nursery school, but we haven’t heard if
he’s been accepted yet. It’s quite nerve wracking.
I mean, what if his credentials aren’t good enough.
Perhaps, I started him on a sippy cup too late. Did we start him
on “pull-ups” too soon? I think his first tooth cut through on
time, but maybe they’re looking for early teethers.
Now that I think of it, though, he crawled for only a couple
weeks before he got up to run. He never did walk much. He’s
always running! Not that he’s hyper-active, but they might
prefer the Type B personality.
When our oldest son applied to Syracuse University’s
Architecture Program ten years ago, things got tense, too. He’d
applied for early admission, submitted his application, went for
the interview with his portfolio and then, nothing. It was so
heart breaking to see him jog out to the mail box, only to drag
himself in without a word from Syracuse.
Then, late one evening when he came home from working at
Family Ties Restaurant, he checked his mail. He bounded up the
stairs and stood at the far end of the bedroom hallway, raised
his arms in a victory sign and bellowed, “I’m in. They want me!”
He ran down the hallway clutching the acceptance paper in his
clenched fist and bounced on our bed to be sure we’d heard his
good news. He was one happy camper and I’ve always been proud to
be an Orange Mom.
What if our 2-1/2 year old isn’t accepted into the nursery
school? Will he feel the rejection for the rest of his life?
He’s so young. How will he cope?
Oh Dear Gussie, Plan B. I need a Plan B.
I taught at the Teddy Bear Nursery School years ago. I’ll
just start my own school. It will be called Buddies and Pals
Nursery School.
Our “game room” already has plenty of space for large muscle
activities, such as rolling and bouncing balls. I could put up
the trampoline, too. We have the old water heater box to crawl
through and lots of other games to encourage imagination, team
spirit and taking turns.
I could bring up the puppet stage from our basement. I must
still have the puppets around somewhere or we’ll make new ones.
Then he can learn to sew, use scissors, glue and create his own
puppet. It’ll be great for small muscle development.
Yes, yes, this nursery school idea is coming together!
Every child needs to feel responsible for something, so
we’ll have him care for the cat. Each morning right after we
review the shapes, colors and seasonal holidays, and have
“Calendar time”, he can feed and water the cat. Some days he can
even brush Gato. The fish are already his and he now knows from
experience, that dumping the whole can of fish flakes in, will
result in dead fish.
Oh, whoops. Teaching colors will be a bit tricky for a
totally blind person, but I’ll braille a lot of things and, I’m
sure, we can find some talking computer software that will assist
us in learning the colors.
Technology is important these days and we have a tape player
that he already knows how to use. We’ll listen to lots of books
with cassettes. Then draw pictures on paper with crayons or on
my chalk board. The kid already can use our VCR better than I
can, so he’ll be in charge of running the educational video
tapes.
Socializing is very important for three-year olds, so I’ll
have other children in every now and then. Years ago when I had
several children in my After School Study Buddy Program, we had a
Friday Is Friends Day. We invited several neighborhood girls who
were the same age as my charges in to play board games. This
left out the younger brother, so we started inviting a couple of
his friends in, too. Then the younger siblings of the girls
wanted to come for Friday is Friends Day, also. It was a huge
success. Why not start that up again?
I’ve always dreamed of running my own nursery school. This
is great. I’m really excited. I’m trained and Certified N-6, so
this might really work.
Oh, there’s the phone.
It was the director of the local nursery school. Tyler has
been accepted for the September, 2001 semester. She recommended
the summer pre-nursery school session for three-year olds. I
suspect the summer session is more for introducing the children
to the school experience rather than a remedial pre-reading
readiness skills session.
Does he want to join them?
Yes, he’d like to attend.
Poof! There goes my dream of a nursery school.
If I’ve learned one thing during my more that half-a-century
on this earth, it is that I must let go of my dreams for my
children when they start to have dreams of their own.
So, be off with our Blessings, my little love. Have fun
with the other wee people at your nursery school. Your Mimi will
be here with milk and cookies to welcome you home.
Besides, we can always be buddies and pals.
04/19/2001 Wayne County STAR Newspaper