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We got our photos from our family shoot in Hawaii and I love them! I thought it would be fun to compare the before and the after of me and my son. Look how tiny he is!
4 YEARS AGO
4 YEARS LATER
Isn’t he such a big boy now? Ugly tears! More photos from our family shoot will be posted soon!
I remember the first time I got ANGRY as a mother towards my child. It was in the middle of the night around 4 a.m, because my child would magically sleep all day long but then 10 p.m rolled around and she’d be magically wide awake until 6 a.m! This went on for weeks. Around week 3, I lost it. I plunged down onto the floor in her bedroom and cried and cried and cried. For hours. I felt so angry towards her that I was shocked at how this cute, tiny and innocent baby that I loved so much could make me SO angry.
I remember the first time each of my babies giggled. Not just a smile, but a full on giggle. There is nothing else in this world that is a happier sound to my ears than a baby’s giggle. I remember the happiness I felt was so powerful that it seemed to surge through my whole body like a rocket, all the way up to the sky.
I remember the first time I worried for each of my child. It was when I dropped them off on the first day of preschool, my youngest only several months ago. ‘All that time when I wished I’d finally get some alone time is finally here. But why is my heart breaking?’, “Is the teacher going to love my child? Take care of my child and be kind?’, ‘Will my child like preschool? Will their classmates be kind? Will my child be kind?’ There are so many mixed emotions. And always tears. I remember with my first child tears just started rolling down my face and as I sheepishly wiped them away, I saw all the other mothers wiping their tears as well. We all looked at each other and laughed. Relieved that we weren’t the only ones, relieved that we are all in this together, in this thing called motherhood.
We are all in this together. We all want what’s best for our child. We all try to do the best we know how. For some, that’s staying at home with the kids. For some, that’s sending the kids to daycare like Kindercare. For some, it’s having their husbands be a stay at home dad. That would be my dream actually! And for some, their nanny/grandparent/friend/neighbor watches their children. But we are all in this together. A village raising each child. No matter which route you take.
I have been debating on what I should do with my son this coming Fall. We decided to push him back 1 year and send him to preschool one more year so he’ll start kindergarten in 2019. Right now he goes to preschool 4 days a week for 2.5 hours but I want him to do more. His personality is a type where I need to be very attentive to him so I can’t get much work done around the house, whether it be my personal work, or house work. So we are thinking we will either send him to 2 different preschools, morning and afternoon for 2.5 hours each for a total of 5 hours or send him to Kindercare. It was funny when I was contacted to work with them, because I was just looking at their site a week prior and thinking about sending my son there! So I’m taking it as a sign! They have a Transitional kindergarten program for a child who has mastered prekindergarten but did not meet the cutoff date for kindergarten which sounds like a perfect program for my son, with his birthday being the end of Summer. We went to parent teacher conference just earlier today and the teacher recommended that he doesn’t repeat preschool but more of a transitional kindergarten if we decide not to send him to kindergarten. That he’d be very bored in preschool again and he’d be socially and academically way above. Kindercare offers an enhanced whole-group activities and project-related learning activities to help children in such areas as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. So it’s studying and academics but also fun and creative play. I also like that they provide nutritious meals that are grouped by 3 age groups; infant to 2, 3-5 and 5 – 12 years old, and I’m not sure about the other centers but the one nearest to me cooks all their food in center and are fresh. To me, food is a huge deal!
So if you were in my shoes, what would you do? Send your child to 2 preschools morning and the afternoon, or to an all day daycare/school for 2-3 days a week? Which one do you think would be better for a child?
My son has a birthday at the end of summer too. it was a debate in our marriage whether or not to start him when he was still four, and then turn 5 a few weeks into school. He started to read at age 3 and thrives on structure, and had little tolerance for small children who could not communicate with words. we decided to start him in kindergarten. i’m so glad we did because it was the perfect fit for him. he is at the top of his class and does well now, four years later. i know several families that have had the same debate. one family started their son with an august birthday and have regretted it since, he is not a strong reader and has a hard time in sports being one of the youngest. another family waited the extra year and have enjoyed watching their son be a leader in his class and do really well. listen to the promptings, you know what is best. Goodluck!
Awww..the nice thing about this is that you sound like a normal mother. Just the way it should be. As far as your question. After raising 4 children, and having one born after the cutoff date to start school that year, and one born just before the cutoff date to start 2 years later, I discovered that no one can really make the right decision, at the time. We just don’t know enough about our children at that age, even tho we think we do. The daughter who had to wait a year, because she was born after the date, turned out to be brilliant, and really needed to start early. She stayed in pre school, bored, far to long. The other daughter, could have benefited, by being held back another year, easily. We sent her to school, and she was traumatized. (turned out to have to struggle for her marks, all through school). Our children are puzzles, and even now, at 38-46, I still discover new things about them that stun me.
So as to your question you and your husband make a decision that you feel is right, and if, years later, you say whoops we should have done the other option……..it won’t have been a mistake. You will just be normal, good parents, trying to make the best decision for your child at the time.
Hello Sarah! Mother of 3 boys here (23, 21 & 18) both preschools provide opportunities for learning, of which the most important is social! * I would vote for an all day program as I think continuity of care is important. He will know the kids, teachers and schedule. The continuity leads to a sense of control and in turn confidence. Summer birthdays are so tough!