Genie started playschool this June, a week short of her second birthday. To give her an idea of school, myself and others in the family mentioned all the positive things about the school. I was more nervous than her. She was calm and quiet unaware of where she is going and what is going to happen. The walk to school was interspersed again with all the goody tidbits about school.
The first week was a breeze as mothers were to accompany them all the time. With hordes of appealing toys, Genie was smiling, active, playing and mingling with the teachers and kids alike. The real test began in second week when no parent was allowed to sit in the class with kids. All the mothers experienced nervousness and anxiety while the kids wailed for their mothers.
Genie got in the habit of crying when I would start to get her ready for school. The teacher had told us that playschool kids take anywhere between 15 days – a month to adjust to the school routine, so mothers shouldn’t worry. The ritual of getting ready for school was peppered with poems, stories, though the crying did not stop. Genie got in the habit of making excuses for not going to school. She would say that she wants to go the doctor as she is hurt or her nani’s house. She will go there first and then to school. This excuses continued exactly for a month. A month later, she was crying, but less than before.
Few changes i noticed over last 15 days is that she has started saying some words, a line or two from the poems taught in the school. She without fail, takes 2 chilles to feed the parrot in the school. She likes getting ready for school, wears her shoes on her own and throws goodbye kisses to her grandparents. She mingles well with other kids and also eats snacks provided by the school. At bedtime, she wants me recite her nursery rhymes instead of stories. Though she mentions about not going to school daily, she enjoys her time with the teachers and other kids. When I pick her up daily, her eagerness to tell me what she did in school tells me my Genie has adjusted well to her school routine.
We celebrated Genie’s birthday a week later than her actual birthday. She was excited at distributing gifts to other kids in her class. We distributed 8 piece crayons box from faber castel and 2 mini kitkats. When Genie performs correct actions to the poems I recite, says few alphabets, numbers, recites a poem, it is a proud moment for me and my hubby.
