K almost did not need to go to school today…until next year January, that is.
Dh and I had a talk yesterday about taking K out of school, as dh felt that K was not really getting much out of school and his routines were badly disrupted after school. He will battle to take a nap during the late afternoons, and get extremely cranky in the late afternoon after school. Dropping his nap is not a solution as he will be very get extremely difficult and will battle to sleep early for that night. So the pros kind of outweigh the cons of attending school. I agreed with dh and was prepared to call the teacher this morning to let her know that we will be taking him out of school and will be on wait list for the morning session for Nursery in January.
Somehow, this morning I took my time to make the call. I had a feeling that we will be facing some resistance from the little guy. And I was right. When I told him that we will not be going to school today until next year, he asked why. Dh explained to him was that he will be going to big boy school in January and there will be no more small boy school today until then (at this moment, I nudged dh and reminded him that he should not lie to K).
I went into his room and wanted to put his uniform back into his wardrobe, but K got very upset. He took the uniform from me and insisted that he wanted to go to school and wanted to leave the house now. He was in tears and exclaimed, "I like school!" I gave in and got an earful from dh about not being determine in my choice and told me that in times like this we need to make the decision for him. Despite what dh said, I went ahead and sent K to school.
When we were in the car, he asked me, 'Will my classmates be in school today?' I answered yes to his question and he asked, "Why did daddy lie to me?" I managed a "Umm…daddy did not want you to go to school because he gets concerned that you always misbehave and refuse to take your nap when you come back from school." K look at me earnestly and answered, "I will sleep well, come back eat my snacks, watch tv and then take nap."
When we got to the foyer of the school, he was the first to enter the lift when his teacher arrived to gather the children to the assembly hall. And he was so determined that he wanted to attend school today, that he did not even bother to wave goodbye to me.
So K's going to attend school for another term.
How do you quench the enthusiasm of your child when he seems to enjoy going to school? Even if the enthusiasm only lasted for a day.
However, a hiccup has surfaced. He is on wait list for the school bus, and if he is not able to take the school bus to school, I might have to really take him out of school 
There is also this potential hiccup for next year; morning session for the nursery is full and he is on wait list at this moment. So it looks like I have to start to look for an alternative school, or just make that decision to home-school him for the whole of next year.
Parenting can be so full of mundane (perceived) issues, and these things can throw things off balance at times.
(Additional parenting note : I have learnt that no matter what the circumstance, we should never lie to our kids. We are not showing a good example to our child, and it confuses him when he is constantly being told that lying is not good thing to do).
Hmmm… we are in the same boat regarding the afternoon session. Kai was in the afternoon session when he first started school and because of the said nap issues and other problems, we also changed him to another school which has place morning session. But next year, I’d put him in afternoon session so that I have some “ME” time for myself.. haha! I hope by then, he can cope without naps.
Kyle is so enthusiastic about school! You can search for other schools with morning session vacancies or those that can solve the potential problems that will crop up next year. But I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to change school since he like his present school so much!
.-= Tin´s last blog ..He is four- =-.
Thank goodness my problem is solved
Thanks for the reminder about not lying to our kids! Sometimes its seems to easy to “bluff” them so that we can get them to do things we want them to do… but like you said, its not setting an example, and not being consistent in our own lives. I must constantly remind myself about this!
These little things do have an effect don’t they? Hope things will be sorted out, meanwhile hang in there… will pray for wisdom!
.-= Jus´s last blog ..You are my sunshine- =-.
It’s good that he likes school. Maybe he just needs a little more time to adjust. But searching for an alternative school may not be a bad idea as well. I too prefer the morning session for the kids. Hope it all works out for Kyle eventually!
.-= Jayne´s last blog ..Crab Fun =-.
Well, is good that Kyle love to go to school!!
I have been ‘practising’ the whole session of ‘school’ to my son : teacher will guide in colouring, drawing, then tea break time, then play time….and the important thing that I said : Mummy will come back to fetch u in a while —> My little Kyle tears started to drop!!
Like what you said : I try not to lie to him as would like him to fully trust me as a Mum!!
So I am facing problem sending my boy to school now!!
I agree with my hubby that going to school is not to make him learn so much about writing, reading…but the most important thing : How to social with other people!! That’s the only thing we cant teach at home!! We are teach him write, read but how to teach him to social at home!!
My hubby always remind me that we cant keep our kid at home, they will need to be independent one day. May be I am too protective to my boy, that’s why my hubby always ‘make’ noise about my worry that I have to my son!!