Why parents infuriate me...

It's not all of my parents that frustrate me and get me angry.  It's not all of them that I want to shake.  It's the few.  The few that make you forget all the rest of the wonderful parents who are a pleasure to work with.  Since everyone seems a little list-happy recently, I have compiled my own list.  This is from my own experience, but you may see similarities to other lists, because these people are everywhere!


10.  You have 1 child here.  Sometimes 2.  We have 8-12.  Every day.

9.  We cannot remember everything you say, and we can't stand around and talk to you all day.  You are not the only person we have to deal with today, and not even the most important.  We are here for the children.  If you really need to talk to us, call us at the proper time (ie, when you know they're resting!) or email us.  Or even write a note!  It's not hard!  Don't be selfish with our attention to you.

8.  Don't dress your child in white and look at us funny when they come home brown.  They are children, they will play.  Please dress your child appropriately.  They can't tie their shoelaces, and you know they take their shoes off when they come inside.  Why are you going to do that to us?  And on the other end of the spectrum, don't send them in flip-flops either.  They're not proper support for the running/jumping they do all day.

7.  PLEASE check your child's communication box/folder daily!  There's important information there, and we aren't always there/available to talk to you when you pick your child.

6.  Please please PLEASE be on time!  This counts for drop-off as well as pick-up.  You distrupt the class when you waltz in late and go through your unnecessarily long, drawn-out separation process as if nobody is there.  And we don't get paid overtime to sit around and wait for you to come and pick up your child at the end of the day.  The child also begins to worry and become distressed.  If you have to pick up your child by 5:30, don't LEAVE at 5:30!  And don't complain when we charge you the late fee, either!

5.  LABEL EVERYTHING.  Again, we have multiple children we are taking care of.  Many items look similar to us, and most children cannot identify their own belongings.  If it looks nice to them, they will claim it whether it belongs to them or not.  If it's not labelled, don't blame us if it goes missing.  We don't have the time to play the elimination game to guess whose it is.  Anything that can detach from them physically should be labelled.  This includes socks and underwear!  Don't assume that your child will always keep these on.  They don't even do it at home, why would they do it at school?

4.  We are not a party venue!  We are a school.  If you would like to have an elaborate birthday party for your child, do it on the weekend.  Keep the birthday celebrations at school simple and quick, and work with our schedule, not yours.


3.  DISNEY IS THE ENEMY!!  Not literally, but it really doesn't belong at a school.  We do not promote images and some of the messages they give to children.  They often distract from learning when children are more focused on what they're wearing or what they have on their lunchbox/bottle/hat, etc.  Keep such images at school at a minimum, and downplay their importance as much as possible.  There are more important things to focus on.

2.  Let the children be children.  Let them develop on their own.  They grow up too fast anyway, so why speed up the process by flooding them with images and messages that are not age appropriate?  Little girls should not be obsessed with make-up, fashion and gossip.  Boys should not be obsessed with guns, fighting and monsters.  They can be aware of it, but when they're fed a steady diet of it so that's what is most important to them and that's all they focus on, something is very wrong.

1.  RESPECT.  Please respect the teachers and the classroom.  This is our workplace and our profession, so please treat it as such.  We take our jobs very seriously, and our first and most important goal is the safety and wellbeing of your child.  We are not your servants, we are not second-class workers.  We are professionals, just like you.  We work hard, and we work long.  We go home tired and drained at the end of the day, but we never stop thinking about your children.  They become like our own and we are devoted to them and to you.  When we say something, or suggest something, it's because we care.  Work with us, not against us.  At the end of the day, it's not the paycheck we're looking for, it's knowing that we're doing the best for a child.  Let us know that you appreciate us, you have no idea how it helps us when we're tired and stressed.


Teaching is not an easy profession.  Teachers don't get paid a lot of money, it's long hours and it's mentally and physically draining.  But we teach because it's our passion as well as our profession.  Just because we teach preschool, don't think we are less than a grade school or high school teacher.  Let's bring back the respect that the teaching profession deserves.

School is in session!

I started writing this post about 2 days ago during rest period, when the power decided to go out.  Fun fun.  We ended up calling parents and sending the kids home early (those who stay for the after school care), because it was raining off/on so we couldn't stay outside, and it was too hot/dark inside.  Of course, the poor head teacher was stuck calling parents on her cell b/c we couldn't use the phones. :P

But, other than that (and 4 new parents in one class deciding not to send their children to the school after all, and the toilets not working yesterday due to the power outage on Thurs), it has been an amazing first week of school.  All the classrooms had a big makeover in terms of layout, we have brand new carpets and new paint, and we seriously purged all our storage sheds, getting back to a nice, minimalist feel, as a Montessori school should feel.  It's so strange, the way things have changed so much between the end of the old school year and the start of the new one.  It feels really, really good.

Things are still a bit hectic in the office, getting files re-organized, and both the head teacher and I have to squeeze in office time outside of teaching to get everything rolling.  Thanks to the head-teacher's mother-in-law who works part-time for us in the office, there's a lot of stress gone out of it, though, since we can rely on her to do a lot of the organizing.

So, school is now back in session, I'm getting my students in shape and in order, and it's looking to be a good year.  The real work starts on Monday.

Funny story about my class:  my students told their old teacher they wanted to go back to her class, because they have too many 'chores' in my class. XD

It's true, I do have them do chores after lunch.  They eat off of plates and drink out of cups to learn good table manners, so after lunch there are dishes to be washed, tables and floors to be wiped, and sweeping to be done.  Once they really start working on the shelves, there will also be dusting and organizing of shelves as well.  I do this for two main reasons: to give them a sense of pride & responsibility, and to fill the time during their shortened rest time.  They'll be heading to primary school next year, which means no more rest time, no more naps.  We prepare them for this by shortening their rest time down to one hour of quiet rest during the school year, then quiet activity during summer camp.  Chores after lunch and before rest time help to fill that gap.  Also, when their work time in the morning gets longer.  Also, I told my class that it's their space, and they are responsible for keeping it clean.  I have already seen the smiles on their faces after sweeping up the floor, or washing the dishes.  They're more than eager to do a good job.  They almost fight over whose turn it is, which makes me thankful for my job chart.  They can see their names on the chart, and know whose turn it is to work.

Hopefully this week I'll remember to charge my camera and take pics of my classroom.  Maybe I'll start my own Wordless Wednesday posts!

Back on track...

Ok, let's get this thing restarted.  The main reason is because I really started getting more involved in Twitter, following Montessori teachers & moms and I really want to share my ideas better.  I've been thinking about a lot of stuff to the point that it's starting to bug me, not really having anywhere to share it.  So this'll be probably more school & child focused than roleplay, but that'll most likely creep back in there sometimes.
SO!  Busy busy busy.  Been getting my classroom ready for school to start this Wednesday.  I know American schools started last week, but we start the first Wednesday after Labour Day.  So there :P
New batch of preschoolers!  Woo!  I'll miss my children from last year (my 'minions' as I jokingly referred to them near the end of the school year.  Mostly to make my boss laugh.) but they're off to bigger and better things and I wish them all the best!  Now I have a new challenge to contend with: the 'girly-girls'.  There are 2 (maybe 3) girls who act more like teenagers than 4 year olds.  It's all about fashion, tv, music, and clothes.  This grates me for several reasons:

1. They tend to clique together and alienate the other children.
2. These are the same type of children that created hell for me growing up.
3. It makes you wonder what their moms are actually thinking, and if they realise what they're setting themselves up for later on.
4. It also makes you wonder what types of messages they're being fed through all the media they're exposed to, and it worries me.
5. One of them has already decided that one of the boys in the class is her 'boyfriend' because their last names are similar.  This worries me.
6. They are far too aware of things that, in their context, are far too mature for them.  Mostly, they're aware of their bodies and parts, but in all the wrong ways.

The last one is the most worrisome of all.  Mostly, I worry that they're learning these things before they're learning to have healthy proper relationships, and that this will skew their perspective on relationships, putting them at high risk for teenage pregnancy.  They're being taught to be 'women' and not 'children'.
I was on youtube the other day, watching clips from the tv special 'Free to be...you and me', where two babies were trying to figure out what they were (boy/girl).  It was interesting in that it dealt with the stereotypes we place on children on what it means to be a 'boy' or a 'girl'.





This is something I deal with all the time.  Children telling each other they can't do something or they can't like something because it's 'for girls' or it's 'for boys'.  Who says?  This is something I've had to deal with my whole life.  I grew up a very staunch tomboy.  I hated having to wear dresses and skirts.  I constantly had my mother getting on me as I got older, to wear my uniform skirts more as opposed to my shorts and pants, because I was a 'girl child' (my mother's Jamaican, if you're wondering about the phrase).  I've been asked if I was a lesbian because of being such a tomboy.  People always trying to get me to wear makeup so I'd look more like a 'lady'.
Now that I'm in my late 20s, I still prefer pants to skirts and dresses, although I will wear them when I want.  Also, I've invested in some quality makeup that I've started to wear more frequently because I want to.  See, the difference is that I do it because I want to, not because other people have told me that I should.  This is what I want to instill in my students.  I want them to be able to be who they are, and know who they are, not to be what the media tells them to be.  Now, if I can only get the parents on board.
I can already see my first day of school being about respect and courtesy, as well as new material.  It's going to be a tough battle.

A little free time... time for rambling!

I got up extra early this morning in anticipation of going back to work, finally.  And I need to leave early because the bridge is down to one lane traffic for the next 3 months or so.  :P  And it's raining!  What a welcome back to work, huh?

Anyway, getting off the steampunk topic for awhile before I beat it to death (next time I'll probably talking about a couple of steampunk chars that I've created), I wanted to talk a little bit, in vague terms, about my job and my kids.  My kids at my job.

I teach at a Montessori preschool, in the preschool class, which is the oldest group.  I currently have 7 (soon to be 8) children in the class, all ranging from 4-5 years old.  The newest one will be just 3, but he's ready to move up.  One thing I love about my class is that my kids are making the leap into beginning reading.  I mean, REAL reading!  Sounding out words and reading a story.  It's exciting for me.  They're really smart kids, and I get to teach them all sorts of things.  They're always asking questions, to the point of my insanity at times, but they're sweet kids.  If I talk about them in the future, it'll be by initials only, and no pics.  Safety first, you know!

I really can't wait to get to work and see what they've been up to while I've been sick.  I know they've been well taken care of, because the head teacher's been covering my class, and she's an old pro at Montessori.  I just hope they don't go nuts now that I'm back.  But they probably will.  Just my luck, huh? X3