The kids in our classroom are great. There is one who is a little high-maintenance and requires a lot of holding, cuddling, etc to be put to sleep, but for the most part, all of our kids are great sleepers, eaters and players. They interact with one another in a healthy and fun way.
Now onto the other classroom I help out on an as needed basis. The kids in there are not adjusting well at all. One mother insists on staying the entire day with her 11 month-old. We have an open door policy at the center, where parents are welcome to come and go as they please, but when transitioning a child to a center, particularly an older child, is a tough thing to do. Having the parents around really impedes on this transition.
Well, today, the mother decided to leave while her daughter was sleeping! Talk about the worst time to leave. What a frightening thing for her daughter to wake up and wonder where her mother was. She was in an unfamiliar place, all alone, and frightened beyond belief. I'm a strong proponent of parents not doing the "sneak out" when leaving their children. Why in the world would you want to trick your child into not paying attention when you leave? What a horrible fear to put into a child. It's important for children to know that if and when their parents leave, they will eventually return. It's important for children to see their parents leave, deal with it, and move on. Sure, this leads to a lot of upset, crying children initially, but then it becomes my job to comfort them and ensure they feel safe and secure with me, to the point of them waving to their parents, or having no reaction when they leave. This may seem cold toward the parents, but it's healthy for the children.
The teacher in the other classroom seems to struggle a bit with organization and confidence. I have no doubt she can do the job, but it seems she gets flustered quite a bit. I happily came into the room prior to leaving today to do what she needed me to do to help get her room in order. I rocked one child to sleep and played with the other two (as she tended to the child whose mother snuck out on her).
The two kids I played with are quite mobile and love climbing. They both have taken well to me and smile when I play with them. I play simple games (peek-a-boo and "Where's Maggie?" etc) that may seem boring, but they love it. They were having a great time climbing on me, the climbing toys in the room, and hiding from me. I didn't want to leave when my shift was up. This is probably the first time I've felt that way (normally, I'm beat, and normally I don't really like going into that classroom in the afternoons).
The director was also in the room, there in case a hand was needed. She sat back and let us run the room. I felt really good about my time spent in the room, and felt she was impressed with how I was able to interact with all of the children. It was a pretty cool feeling.
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