Why Kindergarten Teachers are Worth Their Weight in Gold...

Junior paleontologists uncovering dinosaur fossils...they are staring at an animatronic dinosaur that was right near this site, moving all around and making noise when the other kids pushed some buttons. Luke HATES this thing and bolts like he is on fire whenever we go over near this. I think he was behind us learning about insects with a sweet little old lady volunteer (he ended up hiding around the corner with the fish)... Snack time on the trail at the Living Museum...

Anna and her dear friend, one of the sweetest girls on the planet, Ms. Emma. Anna only put on this skirt because I told her we were meeting up with E and her sister, Mia, and that they would LOVE her skirt...also, they gave A the blue flower clip...

Watercolor time as Earl passes by...Mikey is saying, "power shovel!"

Why paint the paper when your face is right there?

They essentially just splash in the water and attempt to eat the paint (well, okay, that was just Mikey)...

A little fun at the park:

I think they should give preschool/kindergarten teachers super hero capes. We just went to Luke's new Montessori school (run by his old teacher who struck out on her own...well, with another Montessori teacher) yesterday for the open house and it was amazing! The space was so well-organized and inviting...filled with tons of instructional materials that were interesting and irresistible to kiddos. We were there for about 3.7 seconds before the kids dove into some puzzles. Superior organizational skills aside, kindergarten teachers are super humans because they are unbelievable with the kids. Well, the good ones are. (And the good ones should make a TON of money, in my opinion.) And it shows...well, it shows in Luke, at least. He was doing some lessons that he had mastered last year (to do with building blocks, of course), but it was something else to watch him. He went and took out his blue mat, carefully rolled it out on the ellipse, and then took out the materials, one piece at a time, just as he had been required to do last year. After he completed his lesson, he was so cute and proud of himself (as I was), and then he carefully PUT IT BACK ON THE SHELF, ONE PIECE AT A TIME WITHOUT BEING TOLD TO DO SO!!!

This is the kid who gives me a laundry list of reasons why he can't clean up his toys at night before bed (most of them have to do with him not wanting to go to bed in the first place). It is also the kid who, regretfully, has been waiting until F and I have totally lost our patience and raised our voices (which as you might already know is a polite way of saying that we yell exasperatedly at him) to do what we ask. I'm not sure if this is another stage of developmental rebellion, but I swear that he hears that Charlie Brown adult "waaaah waaah won waaah wah wah" noise every time I open my mouth. I know this is partially my fault because I am forever distracted and short on patience. Instead of nicely and firmly inviting Luke to do something (as his teachers do) and/or redirecting him patiently and kindly, I resemble something like a half-plucked chicken running wildly about without any real plan for action, just with a desperate hope that somehow I'll escape the farmer's ax (I realize few chickens are killed by farmers anymore, but go with me on this one). I don't think children react well to desperate people. They kind of look at you with a sort of opportunistic pity...like they're thinking, "I'm sorry you are crazy, lady! You are so crazy! Here is me painting on the wall because you are acting crazy with my crazy ass brother who just stuck his hands in his poopy diaper and invited you to smell it").

Here is something revolutionary I noticed yesterday afternoon as I observed L with his teachers...YOU DON'T HAVE TO YELL. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SPANK (well, we didn't do that anyway). CHILDREN RESPOND TO AN EXPECTATION OF GOOD BEHAVIOR. Seriously, it works. They expect Luke to clean up, to do his work neatly and with respect of both the school and the other students, so he does. It's a very positive environment and it inspires children to have positive behavior, I think. Maybe this is an argument for me to be better organized in my own life...and to model calm behavior? I thought about going to school to learn all these magical secrets that the kindergarten teachers know...I DO want to be a teacher when I grow up. Though not of young children (as you can't discuss Shakespeare or Austen or whomever with people who can't yet read). In any case, there is a sound argument for requiring parents to take child development courses as we go along. I think we all mistakenly assume that we know how to deal with kids because, hello! We WERE kids (and some of us still are) once!

I posted these pictures of the kids painting and as I reflect on this, I recall how angry and ridiculous I was because there was the inevitable painting of the ankles, forehead, cheeks, walls, table, etc. I don't think a kindergarten teacher would respond that way. It doesn't provide a positive learning environment (if only I was still in the military, I could come up with some awesome acronyms). So my new motto (to add to my other motto: What would Jen do?? This is in honor of a friend who seems to respond with infinite resources of patience and kindness) is: What would Miss Mary Do??? Or WWMMD?? Maybe this will make me a kinder, gentler, more educational effective Mommy! I'll get some sweet bracelets stamped with these letters and wear them on both arms (if things get really bad, I'll write the letters backwards on my forehead so I'll think about this every time I glance in mirror to note how big the bags under my eyes are becoming)!!! Or, in the very likely case that this doesn't reign in my temper, I'll invite Miss Mary to live with us! Except I don't think we could afford her...