Aug 25 2009
Aiden Starts Public School At The Tender Age Of Three
Aiden has started pre-school! He’s only three years old, but that’s when children are eligible for pre-school now. The first day of school, Aiden didn’t scream or cry or anything. We met his teacher at the door, and she knelt down and said, “Hi Aiden, and you ready to come in and have a good time?” Aiden says, “Yeah!” and just trots in the door. Chrissy and I are like, “What, no goodbye?” But no, he just runs in without hesitation. This was in stark contrast to two other children that were throwing a complete fit. One kid had to be bodily carried into the school, kicking and screaming. It was sort of surreal, but it didn’t seem to affect Aiden at all.
We wanted to get Aiden into pre-school to expose him to a new social setting so that he would have good speech models. He would not only have social interactions with other children, but his speech would improve by being around other talkers. Chrissy was doing the Mom’s Club activities with the boys over the summer, but that’s not an option now that she has gone back to school (they don’t allow working mothers). So we signed Aiden up for two days a week at the public pre-school. He’ll have AM classes (three-hour morning sessions) twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday, including half an hour of speech therapy each day.
The big controversy was whether or not he would take the bus. They offered to send the bus to our house in the mornings to get Aiden, but the school is actually in the next town over. So, Aiden would have to board the bus and take it all the way to the next town, picking up other little kids along the way. The problem is that this would be a 45-minute drive. The school is maybe ten minutes away by car. My commute to Chicago is 45 minutes, so we couldn’t see putting Aiden on a bus for that long (one way). Chrissy’s mom was pretty vocal in her opposition, so she volunteered to drive Aiden to and from school. Problem solved.
So Aiden is really growing up fast! He has started school with little to no complaints and had a good day at school. We asked him if he liked his class and he said, “Yes,” and we asked him if he wanted to go back again and he said, “No.” Poor little guy doesn’t get how it works yet! You’re signed up for the next nineteen years, buddy! In two weeks, he’ll start at his other pre-school, the private school down the block. With two more days of AM classes per week at TLC, his entire week will revolve around school and speech therapy. At this rate, he’s going to be burnt out before he’s four! Wish him luck!
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It’s it amazing that preschool was rare when I was a kid and now it’s the norm? Sounds like preschool will be great for Aiden.
And I’m with your MIL – he is far too little to be on a school bus by himself for so long. The little cutie is still a toddler!