My preschool is crazy! Some days I wonder why on earth I’m doing this insane job. One mom recently told me that I had to be none other than a saint to even contemplate running the preschool. Today was so bad that the other mom assisting me was doing a countdown to when it would finally end! I am clueless as to what set it off, but something about today just made everyone go nuts and nearly drove me mental!
I’m struggling to teach the kids how to share. We’ve done the Rainbow Fish and other similar stories on sharing, talked about it, and tried to implement it. Some of the kids get it and will walk over and share their toys, others flip out and refuse to share. I had one girl who cried for 3 days in a row anytime she didn’t get something she wanted. And it wasn’t little bouts of crying either, it was full on inconsolable crying for 30 minutes if she saw something she wanted and couldn’t have. Yikes! I’m also trying to work with the nannies; some of them are more helpful now and will assist the other kids. But I still can’t get one nanny to stop bringing this little insane little toddler who gets in the way of everything. And I don’t have the time to prevent him from eating the marbles or beads we’re using. This same nanny lets her little two year old throw temper tantrums that disrupt the entire class. I’ve had girls come up to me and complain that “my ears hurt teacher! Her crying hurts my ears!” So what do I do? I talk to the nanny, request she please take her girl outside, but of course she doesn’t do anything. One day it got so bad that a mom who was helping me ended up kicking them out and making them go home. It’s hard for me because though I may be in charge of the preschool, I’m only 17 and I don’t like to have to stand up against adults and tell them to please get rid of their bratty child.
But again, today was a nightmare. I had 13 kids, 1 baby, 2 toddlers, one parent, and a couple nannies. The nannies were no help today; they were the ones disrupting story time so badly we had to tell them to please stop talking so the children could focus. During music I was dancing around and leading about 6 kids in the hokey pokey while 2 were fighting and tackling each other, one was trying to escape, 4 were trying to use the toilet at the same time, and another just kept running around in endless circles. What am I supposed to do? If I had stopped dancing with the 6 kids they would have turned around and gone crazy too. My parent helper stayed in the bathroom with the 4 kids, and I had to shout to the nannies to please break up the fight. Right as I thought I was going to lose one child to the patio my friend came in and swooped up the child. Thank goodness! I forced my friends Julie and Kate who had originally just came by to say hi to sit on the floor, grab a child, and paddle together to row row row your boat. My friends had to leave shortly after music time sadly, so I started the craft. We were using popsicle sticks to construct treasure boxes, stars, and whatever they could create that would hold their attention. Everything was sopping in glue, and I had my hands in about 4 construction sites at once. It was chaotic, but it kept them entertained for a while, though I had to pronounce them done before the glue spread to anything else.
Story time was difficult with the nannies chatting, kids running to the bathroom, and of course me pausing for minor interruptions like stopping kids from killing each other and inquiring about Josh’s potty dance. “Josh, do you have to go to the bathroom?” “No teacher.” “Are you sure Josh?” “Yes!” “Then Josh, why are you doing the potty dance?” “ ‘Cuz it’s fun!” “Can you please stop and sit down?” “No.” “Why?” “Because I have to go potty now!!
Before they painted we put each child in an enormous men’s t-shirt and used clothespins to keep it from falling off. They stayed amused until their boxes were done, and out of desperation I grabbed my friend who returned to help me and we began assembling star ornaments as fast as possible so they could have something else to paint and stay busy.
Of course that didn’t last for too long, and after cleaning everything from shoes, to hands, to eyelids they were ready to go outside and play. I started chucking balls, Frisbees, chalk, anything I could find outside to keep them entertained. It took 2 adults, 4 nannies, me and my friend to keep the children on the patio. I chased after several kids on numerous occasions who tried to run home. By 12:05 when the nannies were still sitting on the patio relaxing and watching their kids run wild we started handing out the craft projects and trying to nudge them to leave. I guess they eventually got the hint and finally took everyone home. My parent helper agreed it was the craziest she has ever seen it get. Thank goodness it’s finally the weekend!
Kate and her mom stayed to help me clean up and I went out to lunch with her family. It was nice to pause and relax with friends after a stressful morning. As they were getting ready to take me home her mom mentioned maybe taking us by the Co-op and a purse store upstairs. Of course we couldn’t resist some shopping therapy and we headed off with high hopes. Kate’s mom had recently purchased a knock off Coach purse from this place. In fact, I had been admiring it earlier and had no clue it was fake! It was really beautiful and well made. Who cares if the knock offs don’t last a lifetime? I figure if they are a good price, look nice, are good quality, then why not buy one even if it only lasts a couple years. I’d rather buy lots of fun knock offs than one expensive one that lasts forever.
As we walked through the grocery to go up the escalator to his little shop the vendor saw us and followed us upstairs to open up for us. I was amazed at the vast expanse of purses he had. He had the most unique styles of purses, wallets, baggage, and jewelry. It was fun to look around, and very therapeutic too. I found a Chanel purse that I absolutely loved. It’s black and silver and looks fabulous! The man kept coming and saying “you like? You buy now. No think, just buy.” I inquired to the price and he replied “no think price. No price. We find price.” He finally told me the original price and that “I make special for you!” Luckily I had Kate’s mom there who reminded him of the price she had paid last week and he let me have it for that. It was about equivalent 2 hours of working at the preschool, and I figured after all the stress and chaos it caused me, the least I could do was use some of that money (I save just about all of it)to buy a therapeutic purse. And I love it!
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