For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 12, 2022

definitely need to keep eyes on April

Her mama didn’t raise no dummies. ;-)

Normally this snack comparison would not be required by most kids, but April comes from a household where the snacks are from Elly, so inspection is necessary.

I have a friend who once when he was real young, flunked kindergarten because he refused to take a nap when he was told to….

I remember having to take naps in day care, but not in preschool or kindergarten.

Well, if we’re negotiating a quid pro quo, I wanna see the quo.

Fool me once, shame on you….

Seems Elly doesn’t put April down for a nap or a downtime. My older would not lie down or slow down for anything until it was nighttime and he was ready to be knocked out. My younger knew to nap or be quiet when he was tired. I used to call my older the pink Energizer bunny.

Will April end up flunking pre-school?

April’s going to be a handful, I can tell!

She’s really spoiled. Must be time for a parent-teacher conference.

One smart kid

This will lead to “wanna snack NOOOOWW!!!”

I worked in a preschool/daycare many years ago, when I was a college student (obviously riding my dinosaur to work.)

They called it daycare till the kids were 4 1/2 to 5.

When they got transferred to that room, it was magically preschool instead.

It was run by a woman who believed in Montessori methods, but it wasn’t a licensed Montessori school, and she was misguided besides.

She wanted quiet obedience all the time… indoor and outdoor voices, toys used “properly”, etc.

I got three warnings, which meant I was one step from being fired… and the last one was for playing a record of children’s songs instead of the soft classical music I was supposed to play during “rest time.”

The children were lying on their mats, some quietly clapping along, instead of being still with their eyes closed… so of course it was “too stimulating.”

BTW, one of the other warnings was for showing a little boy how to write his name, when he asked me.

“We don’t teach anything in daycare”…. in the 4 1/2-year-old room a teacher could, cos then it was preschool.

But not me, cos I was an aide, not a teacher.

Mind you, no one had ever told me not to do it, yet it was a serious infraction.

There were lots more rules.

Is it any surprise that, as much as I needed it, I quit that job?

When my younger daughter transferred from day care to preschool (same building; different class), my bright, funny, sunny little girl became troublesome, mean & disrespectful. It didn’t take long to find out why. I would show up at “nap time” to pick her up: very few kids were even on their mats; those that were, were bouncing on them! I noticed that the stuff that was in her cubby were strewn about the room. One day, she came running to me with a huge welt on her forehead! When I asked the teacher about it, she said, “I have NO idea!” The final straw was when, as she was being super-troublesome on her way in, I wanted her to stand in a corner in the room for a moment & the teacher wouldn’t let me. I went to talk to the office. On my way, I bumped into a teacher who was a friend. She told me that there was an opening in her room. Making an already long story short, I issued my complaint, asked if she could be sent to my friend’s room, and that day it was done. It took a day or 2, but soon after she returned to being my bright, funny, sunny little Butterfly. (And it wasn’t long after THAT, that the other teacher was fired.)

April just wants to make sure it is worth her while.

When I first read the daycare sign, I thought it said “Little DIAPER.”

April is going to get put in jail for resisting a rest.

Hah; she’s definitely a sharp one. ;-)

Never play the game until you know what the prize is.

I didn’t have to go to kindergarten. First grade was a shock to me.

Not good to train kids food is a reward.

Demanding little wench, ain’t she? d;o)

She hates coconut

What? Don’t you want to haggle?"

See April worth your nap time.

I don’t blame her. Why rest if the snack is going to be something you don’t like.

Kids!

What’s the matter with kids today?

Trust, but verify.

When my son was in pre-K, I volunteered in his class a few days a week. Some times the kids would be so hyped that it was hard to get them to settle down. One time I clapped my hands together very loudly and got their attention. The teacher became upset and scolded me for it. I told her I needed to get them calmed down for their rest period, because I had to soon leave her and go to my job.

Looks like one of my lifelong favorites – peanut butter with a Hershey’s Kiss pressed into the middle.

Wow…. Mom has really spoiled this little girl. She is smart, too.

Jennifer’s quite a skeptic for a pre-k child. Is her middle name Missouri-?

If April really lies down for a nap, she’ll get the snack.

In response to Susan. That’s not spoiled, that’s skeptical. Is there really a snack? Is it a good enough snack to be worth doing something I don’t want to do? Legitimate questions, and don’t believe for a minute that a toddler isn’t capable of that much thought. I raised 2 boys and helped with 2 girls, and that is exactly what I would expect from a child I raised. I expect some independent thought as long as it is done respectfully, and that’s what I’m seeing.

That was me, 64 years ago – I did NOT like nap time.