this woman’s work

You know, one of the things that the hot shots in blog marketing will tell you is that you need to make sure your Title accurately conveys the contents of your post. I just can’t get with that.

I dropped Madison off at preschool and she strolled in with her arms open wide saying, “Here I am!” Because you know the world doesn’t start to spin until Madison enters the room! (It’s true — I did a study.)

Last week I was feeling very discouraged about her preschool because it’s too academic-y for me. It’s that damn trickle down No Child Left Behind. Ohio says preschools have to teach stuff that (I feel) isn’t necessary or developmentally appropriate. Preschool should be about play and about relationships and emotional development. I’m working on an article actually covering this curriculum about helping kids develop empathy and the ability to manage their feelings and you know what? Hey, Mr. Bush! Kids who are emotionally aware score HIGHER on test scores! You want early learning? Meet the kids’ emotional needs early on! You want higher math scores? Teach kids how to get along in the world and skip the flashcards! (The program I’m writing about is here and it’s nifty. I keep saying it to Brett when he’s grouchy at the kids. I say, “Stop! Now say to yourself, ‘Calm Down!’ Take a deep breath! Count! Think of a calm place! Now think of something else to do!” You kinda chant it and it drives him crazy but it’s working.)

I don’t think Madison is being harmed by this stuff — it’s only five hours a week after all and there’s no desk learnin’ — no worksheets and that kind of inappropriate junk for kids still learning how to hold a crayon properly — it’s just not what I dream of when I dream of preschool. (And I mean this literally because I loved teaching three year olds and sometimes when I’m watching her class I get itchy to hop in there and start singing “Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree.” And I did actually have a dream about Madison’s preschool where it was all I loved about Noah’s old preschool and all I love about hers only squished up and perfected.)

Fortunately there are three things that make me really happy about the preschool (besides their NAEYC-accreditation, their affordability and close location, their strong sense of community spirit and the plethora of supplies):

1. One particular teacher who is loving, kind, nurturing, home-y and all about feelings (a woman after my own heart) who seems to get Madison;
2. The fact that this teacher happens to be black, which makes Madison very happy and makes me happy and who knows about our transracial adoption and is aware of our happiness and also appreciates that Madison might need some more attention;
3. The diversity of the classroom (of eleven children there are three kids of African descent, one child of Asian descent, one child of Hispanic descent and three different languages — not counting English — spoken by kids in the class).

Madison said that last week the girls (and maybe the boys but she only mentioned two of the girls) were putting dolls up their shirts to pretend to be pregnant. This might have contributed to the “mommy” discussion, I think. Because if you’re playing at being pregnant yourself, you’re probably starting to realize that pregnancy is when mommy-hood starts. That’s another thing re., diversity — in this classroom MOST of the dolls have various shades of brown skin and there is one pink skinned doll whereas in Noah’s preschool it was evenly split although the class was uniformly white. Most quality childcare centers are huge into the multicultural thing (we had trainings galore about it at the NAEYC conventions and lots of articles in the Young Children magazine they put out) but at Madison’s preschool, given the make-up of the population they serve, it’s not just a theory.

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