Preschools Prerequisites

Recently there was a 2-day free trial class in one of the Preschool around my work place.  I decided to just send her there to try out, although she just turned 2 and not toilet-trained.

Now, this post is not to hentam this preschool or to brag about my girl.  But I am glad I sent her there to try out so that I know what my prerequisite requirements are.  I decided not to name the school for privacy reasons.

The Good

My girl was highly praised by the teachers and principal.  Words like independent, did not cry, follow instructions well were told to me.  I was of course pretty proud of my baby.  

I have slowly realised that my girl is on the intelligent side, dare to do things on her own without being told, pick up her own mess without being told, willing to try new things and explore at her own risk.  Besides all this, she is also a relatively quiet girl.  When I compared her with the other 2 year olds that I know of, I find that my girl is very gentle, does not play rough, learn very fast and very independent for her age.

Things that she is doing right now as a 2 year old are:

1. If she is hungry, she would climb up the dining table, remove the tudung saji and see what food is available for her to eat.  One day, I find her sitting on the stairs, munching on cookies while holding a container of cookies.  She managed to open the cover and eat from there.

2. Whenever she is thirsty, she would tip-toed to get her water bottle on the table and she would open the water bottle on her own and drink.

3. She would bring her cousin brother's water bottle for him to drink.

4. She knows how to wear her shoes and she would wear is correctly, i.e correct side.  

5. When she is back home, she removes her shoes and put it on the shoe rack.

6. Sometimes she would bring her cousin brother's shoes for him to wear.

7. She is good at opening bottle caps of mineral water bottle.  

8. She is good at opening the zipper of any bags.

9. She is good at taking out the wet wipes from the packet.

10. She takes a tissue to blow and wipe her nose.

11. She takes a stool to reach up to wash her hands at the sink.

12. She reads to herself (although she can't really read and can't really talk).  So it would be baby talk.  She would point to the sentences and read as if she knows.  But actually, she is imagining the story and telling it out.  Whenever she see words, she would read it out (though incorrectly).

13. She knows how to sing ABC, Twinkle Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Baby Shark, Johnny Johnny, 5 Little Monkeys and so on.  If you sing half way and stop, she can continue the song.

14. She knows few alphabets and few numbers.  She thought 3 is M when she turned it the other way round.

15. She threw rubbish into the bin without being told.

16. She clean up her own mess and sometimes cousin's brother mess as well.

17. She knows how to wear socks.

18. She has her preference of beautiful dresses.

19. If she wants something that she cannot get, she would push you to that place that she wants you to go.

20. And lately, she told me, "I want take bath", "I want eat rice".

The list goes on.  Perhaps there are other kids like her.  But because few of my friends have kids around her age, I have been comparing their development.

One is very rough and keep on pushing, slapping and throw things or grab things from others.  The other way round, my girl offered to share her food and no grabbing, pulling hair, etc.

Another who is older refused to sit down quietly and would be walking around non-stop and talking and chatting non-stop.  Mother can't control her.

Example, I asked the 2 girls, my girl and another to put some rose petals on the ground and put them nicely.  My girl would be arranging it nicely.  The other girl would be throwing it up the air and stomping with her feet and all that.   

Sorry, I digressed.

So, my girl didn't cry at all when I sent her to the preschool for the 2 days.  The teachers and principal were highly impressed and I was very proud though I was very nervous in the beginning.

The Bad

Now, first day of trial class, it all went well until the end.  My parents went to peeped on her and my girl saw my mom and immediately ran to her.  Before that she went to take her shoes to put it on without any teacher's assistance.  Then the teacher wanted to hand over her to my mom.  But my mom stopped it.  Since I was the one who sent, I should be the one picking her up, no?  So my mom want to make it a point that only me can pick her up.

I thought preschools have a strict pick up procedure.  But apparently not this one.  And it is very scary.  No wonder kids are missing from preschools.  I believed they are kidnapped by their own relatives or someone they already knew.

Second day of trial class, my parents can't go to pick her, so I took leave to go.  When I opened her water bottle, it was still filled to the top, meaning my girl didn't drink from it at all.  So I thought to myself, perhaps she drank from another source instead.  

When we reached home, my girl had fever.  I just let it go because it was mild and I thought perhaps it's just the hot weather.  Slowly the fever became higher and I gave her paracetamol.  By midnight, she broke into hives and I applied calamine lotion for her.  

Today went to the clinic and found it is a viral fever and hives because fever was high.  

I don't know if she caught a virus in the preschool, which is totally understandable because of the other kids.  But not to monitor her and didn't give her enough water, something I cannot accept.

The down side of my girl being too independent and too quiet is that teachers don't pay attention to her.  They rather go and pacify some other naughty kids or those who were crying non-stop.  So, I felt my girl was let to do her own thing since she is quiet.  And if the water bottle was not taken out from the bag and put on the table, my girl doesn't know how to drink water.  She needs to see the water bottle.  And the bag was kept some place where my girl can't see.  Otherwise, she knows how to open the zipper and how to retrieve her water bottle and drink on her own.

I won't fault it to the teachers as I understand it's a free trial class and there were probably many parents who thought like me.  But my prerequisite is for teachers to pay some attention to her.

That place is fully air-conditioned as it is indoors.  Even the playground is indoors.  I was told it can be cold, so to bring a sweater with her.  First day, she wore long sleeves.  Second day, my mom dressed her in short sleeves and although I was feeling uneasy about it, my mom insisted and I told her that it is cold and my mom said her sweater is in her bag.  So I left it.

When I picked her up, she wasn't wearing the sweater and her hands were very cold.  I think she was cold and didn't tell the teachers and so she ended up feeling too cold and body became too hot and the combination became fever.  I suspected.

Conclusion

Now I won't fault the school for not paying attention to my kid as much as I want.  True enough she is too young, doesn't know how to say what she wants exactly and so the teachers can't read minds.  They don't even know how to pronounce her name, so I wondered how they called her the whole time.

I think 2 years old is too young to attend a preschool.  Not toilet trained is one thing.  Not able to verbalise her needs is another.  Though she knows the word like poo poo, pee pee, too cold, too hot, water, food, but she can't tell it to someone who doesn't know her well.

Although I told her teachers that she is not toilet-trained and they told me they will take note on it.  My girl's diaper was full with pee on both days.  Not changed at all.

Oh, I do still prefer kindy or preschool which has an outdoor playground.  Nothing beats the grass, sun and fresh air.