I joined the school today only to learn that now Stfn is absent. yesterday she had her birthday and fell ill. She won't be here the whole week now.
So Rfk was sent to help me out; she is a married woman with two kids and a trainee in our school. We were surprised to see that all our kids behaved exceptionally well, including the two new babies Nn and Mtn. And this fact was not hidden even from Rfk.
"Yesterday Stfn and I were with the kids and the whole time it was just plain chaos." Said Rfk. "She was trying to read a story to the child but nobody listened to her. They kept playing and roaming about until she got fed up and shut the book in the middle. She cannot control the children as well as you do. And the biggest thing is both Nn and Mtn actually behave badly when she is present."
This is a fact I had long before foreseen. Stfn is excellent with babies but that also means that she babyishes them way too much than required, I mean the older ones. For instance, both Mnt and Nn have been with her since more than a year but I always saw them as sticking close to her and emotionally completely dependent on her - something which is more akin to over indulging, over attached, over loving parents than a professional teacher in a kindergarten. As a teacher we need to make children independent both emotionally as well as physically and not tied to our apron strings. So both Mtn and Nn are used to being treated like babies and so they continue behaving like one even when they are now old enough. Little Nn constantly sucks her pacifier and keeps carrying her burp cloth 24 hours a day although she is well past both of them. I tried keeping her without her pacifier and her burp cloth and she was just fine! She didn't even once ask for them.
I had more difficulties controlling both of them with Stfn present than now when she was absent.
These two are the children for whom Stfn had refused to leave her baby group; she had been telling since nearly 2 months that both Nn and Mtn were not ready to live without her so they shouldn't be sent to the next group and when she was asked to join my group, she continued saying that Mtn and Nn couldn't live without her so finally Stf the boss decided Stfn must come to my group with both Mtn and Nn! I am sure Stfn will feel terribly bad when she hears that Mtn and Nn both have been such good babies without her. In fact they didn't even once ask for her. Everybody is noticing this and talking about it.
Today Stfn was absent again and Mks was sent to me to help me out. I noticed he was getting a bit stressed probably because he is more used to and definitely more suitable for bigger children rather than little toddlers who take offence easily if you as much as happen to look a bit hard on them or talk to them in a loud volume. He wasn't very great a help to me either as when we were in the toilet he preferred calming down Ls who was crying for his mother rather than help change diapers. It took me soo long to manage all the children alone while he was simply talking to Ls. Later when we returned from the playground, he had planned to go back to his group and send Rfk to me but My came and told me that Mks must remain with me till the lunch time.
It sounded simple and not in the least offensive so far as I could see, but Mks turned so upset with My for making him stay with my group.
"But what's wrong in this?" I asked. "We can be sent to any group anytime depending on the need of the hour. Rfk cannot come to me today because she has her exam. It won't hurt you to stay in any other group due to shortage of teachers in school, no?"
"Ya, I know, but I wanted to be with my children. I belong to my group."
Both Mtn and Nn are absolutely fine. I took away Nn's burp cloth and pacifier and she didn't seem to miss them at all. However, when Stfn comes back, I fear, they both will revert to their old ways, and since our team is new, I would prefer not to sound didactic to her.
So Rfk was sent to help me out; she is a married woman with two kids and a trainee in our school. We were surprised to see that all our kids behaved exceptionally well, including the two new babies Nn and Mtn. And this fact was not hidden even from Rfk.
"Yesterday Stfn and I were with the kids and the whole time it was just plain chaos." Said Rfk. "She was trying to read a story to the child but nobody listened to her. They kept playing and roaming about until she got fed up and shut the book in the middle. She cannot control the children as well as you do. And the biggest thing is both Nn and Mtn actually behave badly when she is present."
This is a fact I had long before foreseen. Stfn is excellent with babies but that also means that she babyishes them way too much than required, I mean the older ones. For instance, both Mnt and Nn have been with her since more than a year but I always saw them as sticking close to her and emotionally completely dependent on her - something which is more akin to over indulging, over attached, over loving parents than a professional teacher in a kindergarten. As a teacher we need to make children independent both emotionally as well as physically and not tied to our apron strings. So both Mtn and Nn are used to being treated like babies and so they continue behaving like one even when they are now old enough. Little Nn constantly sucks her pacifier and keeps carrying her burp cloth 24 hours a day although she is well past both of them. I tried keeping her without her pacifier and her burp cloth and she was just fine! She didn't even once ask for them.
I had more difficulties controlling both of them with Stfn present than now when she was absent.
These two are the children for whom Stfn had refused to leave her baby group; she had been telling since nearly 2 months that both Nn and Mtn were not ready to live without her so they shouldn't be sent to the next group and when she was asked to join my group, she continued saying that Mtn and Nn couldn't live without her so finally Stf the boss decided Stfn must come to my group with both Mtn and Nn! I am sure Stfn will feel terribly bad when she hears that Mtn and Nn both have been such good babies without her. In fact they didn't even once ask for her. Everybody is noticing this and talking about it.
Today Stfn was absent again and Mks was sent to me to help me out. I noticed he was getting a bit stressed probably because he is more used to and definitely more suitable for bigger children rather than little toddlers who take offence easily if you as much as happen to look a bit hard on them or talk to them in a loud volume. He wasn't very great a help to me either as when we were in the toilet he preferred calming down Ls who was crying for his mother rather than help change diapers. It took me soo long to manage all the children alone while he was simply talking to Ls. Later when we returned from the playground, he had planned to go back to his group and send Rfk to me but My came and told me that Mks must remain with me till the lunch time.
It sounded simple and not in the least offensive so far as I could see, but Mks turned so upset with My for making him stay with my group.
"But what's wrong in this?" I asked. "We can be sent to any group anytime depending on the need of the hour. Rfk cannot come to me today because she has her exam. It won't hurt you to stay in any other group due to shortage of teachers in school, no?"
"Ya, I know, but I wanted to be with my children. I belong to my group."
Both Mtn and Nn are absolutely fine. I took away Nn's burp cloth and pacifier and she didn't seem to miss them at all. However, when Stfn comes back, I fear, they both will revert to their old ways, and since our team is new, I would prefer not to sound didactic to her.
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