Juliette attends a fantastic small preschool. The teachers don’t speak any English, so thank goodness I’ve taken some Italian! Juliette gets excited when she sees their welcoming smiles meeting her at the door.
In September Brady started attending the local public school. We felt confident he would adjust and eventually integrate well into the class. There were 3 instructors in his particular class and one of them spoke some English. At first this seemed to be a great plan. He was going to make friends, learn Italian, and have some structure to his day. After a couple of months he started crying every morning not wanting to go to school. He complained that the teacher hit her desk, making a loud noise. With a class full of 4 year olds, she had to get their attention somehow! The problem is that Brady hates loud sounds. This was his main complaint for quite some time. We continued to make him go because he needed to learn how to deal with situations he didn’t like. He would talk about playing with a friend and would say he had a “great” day every time I picked him up. Slowly his behavior began to change. He was angry and defiant. He would be very rude and disrespectful to anyone he came in contact with. His complaints changed from the “loud sound” to “my friends don’t want to play with me.” When I dropped him off in the morning, at least one student would run to meet him and help him take his backpack off, so I wasn’t convinced he was telling me the whole story. Finally, at the beginning of February, when I asked what he did at school he would say “I just wait for you to come back to get me.” My heart broke! After considering it for several days, we decided not to send him back to school.
To be honest, I was very conflicted. I enjoyed my “me” time and was pretty jealous of it. I also didn’t want Brady to think just because he cried about something, he didn’t have to do it. I believe it’s our job as parents to teach him coping skills and not always giving him an easy way out. In the end, it was the best decision we could make.
I was tired of hearing him cry every morning about going to school, dragging him out of bed, and the morning generally being a disaster. I was tired of his bad behavior and was convinced it was frustration from school manifesting itself. So, I found myself in the midst of homeschooling a preschooler. This has been an adjustment, but a covering of God’s grace has filled every corner of our home. Our days are now filled with joy and peace. I have my sweet and caring little boy back! His behavior change is truly remarkable. I enjoy our days together and there have only been a few where the clock moved at a snail’s pace. He is now officially registered for kindergarten, so I’m really glad we get to spend this time together!
