Saturday, July 12, 2008

"But I hate it!"


S's glasses that he made at school

S is having some trouble acclimating to school here. We enrolled him in a local Montessori school's summer program, hoping to encourage Spanish and also to facilitate interaction with kids. The first day was all right but it's gotten progressively worse. By Wednesday, when we got to the school he announced, "I'm not going," and started walking back towards our apartment. By Friday he was making the same announcement while still at home and heading for his bedroom (furthest from the front door). He has cried A LOT. He has whined A LOT.

When I pick him up he seems quite content and will tell me about all the activities. He genuinely seems to enjoy it, but by the evening he's upset again. This morning when he woke up you could feel the relief when I answered that yes, today is Saturday.

We've talked through what he doesn't like, the top of his list is that the music player they use at the school is shaped like Cinderella's carriage. Another reason is that his legs don't fit under the table they eat lunch at.

I feel awful making him go if he truly hates it (as he has said... repeatedly). I feel awful letting him quit just because it is hard. I really don't know what to do. Any great ideas? Anything that's worked for your kids?

See? Doesn't he look like he loves it?

2 comments:

Amy said...

That breaks my heart--I wish I had some good advice for you, but I feel like most of my parenting is completely random. Most of the time I have no idea what to do or if what I'm doing is working or if I'm scarring my kids for life. Good luck!

Brenny said...

That is so rotten -- for both of you. Since I have no kids, I can offer all the parenting advice I want, right? Yeah, I've got nothing. But how cute are those 'glasses'?