Thursday, 10 September 2009

• My Preschool Dropout

  As I mentioned yesterday, Emily started her preschool program again. I had high hopes that she was ready this time, but was not prepared for just how unready I would be. When her teacher didn't call me during the two and a half hours she was in school, I figured things had gone well and I would just have to learn to deal with her being gone two days a week.

  When Caleb and I arrived at the school the children were being escorted out in their large stroller things. It is this one large stroller that holds up to six children. I immediately noticed that Emily was not one of the children seated in the stroller and my heart sunk. Sure enough when I stepped inside there was my sweet girl asleep in a corner. We have learned that this is Emily's coping mechanism. Anytime she is left somewhere she is unfamiliar, she simply falls asleep until I arrive. I always joke she is just waiting for the nightmare to end.

  After a talk with her teacher, whom I respect immensely, it was decided that Emily just wasn't a preschool kind of girl. She will continue to see her teacher in our home about once a month, but no more school. According to M, Emily is thriving at home and is showing no signs of needing that school environment to further her skills. She went so far as to tell me that she had children in the program that had been there since the age of eighteen months and Emily was showing signs of being further advanced. Our feeling was; "if it isn't broke, why fix it?".

  I mentioned the strong issues that I was having yesterday prior to her going. I have always said I wanted Emily treated just as any other child, but I failed her yesterday. I would have never pushed Caleb or any of the other children into a preschool program at the age of two and am angry at myself for pushing Emily. In my quest to give her every opportunity available to her, I went against my own instincts.

  The truth of the matter is; Emily belongs at home with her family. Between her brothers and sisters, she is interacted with from the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to sleep. There was a reason she was given to us and I really believe it is because of the sheer number of people that simply adore her. Her teacher said she was stunned at how far her verbal skills had come since she had last seen her in early June. When you have people constantly talking to you; you tend to pick up some of those skills. There is not a school program on this planet that could compete with the interactions that Emily receives at home.

  If and when the time comes that Emily seems to need outside interaction, we will cross that bridge. Until then, my angel is at home happy and content being a preschool dropout.

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