Can't Let the Turkeys Get Me Down

Been an interesting twenty-four hours.

Got an email from the parochial school where T goes to preschool.  They've decided to change the preschool schedule for next year.  Again.  Last year, they sent a survey to the parents, who decided that three days a week wasn't enough, so the fours can attend three or five mornings and the threes got moved to the afternoon.  Next year, the fours will attend three days, from 8am to 1pm with the option to stay until 2pm. 

This raises some issues:

1. I cannot be in two places as once.  T needs to be in school at 8am; J waits for the bus at 8am.  I suppose I could take T to school first and then drop off J, but the elementary school doesn't allow dropoffs until 8:20, and the schools are five minutes apart.  And J loves riding the bus; why would I want to take that from him?  Why should I take that from him?
2. What about the parents who have multiple children attending the school?  For some it may be convenient to drop off both children for an 8am start.  But won't it be rather confusing for the parents with two preschoolers, one child starting at 8am on MWF and the other at 9am on TTH?  And what about the parents with a child in the threes and an older child in the elementary school?  If the decision to start the fours at 8am is to accommodate the parents with children in the fours and in elementary school, what about the parents with children in the threes and another in elementary school?  Why make it easy for some and not others?  And why make an 8am start for the fours if the kindergarteners can arrive between 7:50 and 8:30?  This decision makes absolutely no sense.
3. Most important to me, I do not think four-year-olds should be in school for six hours a day, even if much of the time is spent at play.  This is a preschool program, not a day care center.  (Note:  This is not a critique of parents who work; rather, a critique of parents who work who also expect their schools to function as day care centers as opposed to centers of education.)

I spoke to the teacher this morning.  She had pushed for a 9am start for the preschool across the board; she was not pleased with the varying start times.  She told me to complain to the principal about the new fours start time, and also told me that the 8am start was to accommodate one parent who complained about having to drive back and forth to the school multiple times. 

Seriously?  I am at that school four times on Wednesdays:  to drop T off, pick him up, then bring J to CCD and pick him up an hour later.  I don't complain because driving my kids to where they need to be is my job. 

The upshot is that the teacher has absolutely no problem with me bringing T to school after J gets off the bus.  She plans to spend the first hour in free play, with circle time starting at 9am.

So after making myself completely crazy, I feel better about the preschool issue.

And then one of the moms came in to share some news.  Can you guess?  I'll give you a hint:  she's pregnant with her third child and she already has two boys.  You don't still need a hint, do you? 

Yup.  She's having a girl.  Of course she is.  Right now it's just a dull throb, but this morning it briefly brought back some old feelings.  And it made me realize that perhaps my lesson from God is that the things I want are not necessarily the things I need.  It also made me wish that someone would experience the disappointment I felt, but then I immediately realized that not having felt that pang would mean that I wouldn't have S.

After dropoff, I went to the mall with S to get some teacher gifts.  Ran into three different people I haven't seen in a while.  I love random, unplanned mall reunions.

I'm glad that everything panned out as it did.  And I am ready for the weekend.