our former neighbor ran a small family daycare in her home. she had several long term families that used her (kids started out as toddlers and stayed several years). she was agahst when some of the 'sweetie pies' she had been caring for started bringing terrible language and behaviours into her home once they started kindergarten. she said kids she never had issues with were transforming before her eyes into little beasts. it got to be a real issue with some parents-they never saw the behaviours because the kids only did them when they were around other kids (so unless they pulled it with a sibling it never came up at home), so they did'nt believe their kid would ever do the things she (provider) felt the need to correct the child on and report to the parents. neighbor ended up spending allot of time with parents/kids getting ready to enter k, she educated the parents on what types of behavioural changes might happen and how she/they could work together to nip it in the bud. she also did some work with the kids on self esteem, and how when you know a behaviour in inappropriate you don't engage in it just because 'everyone else' or 'the cool kids' do.
when neighbor's son got to the age for kindergarten she opted to send him for that year to a school that was preschool through kindergarten. her opinion was that allot of the kids she saw problems with went to the local schools that while the k's had a separate playground and did'nt regularly interact with the older kids-did share the same lunch room, busses and such. and those k's watched every move the older kids made (you could see them on their k playground watching with facination the 'big kids' on the adjacent playground-trying to imitate their actions and behaviours). she figured if she could get her son's first classroom experience in a younger setting with less 'older' influences he might be better able to stay on the right track. seemed to work pretty well-he did well in classes and seemed allot more mature than the bulk of the first graders he attended the local school with the following year.
when neighbor's son got to the age for kindergarten she opted to send him for that year to a school that was preschool through kindergarten. her opinion was that allot of the kids she saw problems with went to the local schools that while the k's had a separate playground and did'nt regularly interact with the older kids-did share the same lunch room, busses and such. and those k's watched every move the older kids made (you could see them on their k playground watching with facination the 'big kids' on the adjacent playground-trying to imitate their actions and behaviours). she figured if she could get her son's first classroom experience in a younger setting with less 'older' influences he might be better able to stay on the right track. seemed to work pretty well-he did well in classes and seemed allot more mature than the bulk of the first graders he attended the local school with the following year.
She's so lonely this year because she doesn't have any friends in her class.
