What I Learned in Preschool
So if you don’t already know, for the past 10 months, I’ve been a preschool teacher. Well, an assistant preschool teacher. But the point is, I spend 40 hours a week teaching 16 little 3 and 4 year olds. Yesterday was my last day with my class I’ve had the whole ten months.
Going into this “teaching” thing, I had no idea how attached I would be to my precious babies. Honestly, I didn’t think I liked kids. I just got this job because I hated my old one so much and I love BGCA. Before I became a full time assistant, I was a substitute. After my first day as a sub, I was smitten. I was obsessed with my kiddos already. I knew that this was God’s plan for this season. So here we are almost a year later, and it’s time for me to go back to subbing so I can go to college.
It’s been an emotional week to say the least.
As I sit here reflecting on my time with my 16 kids, I began to realize how much I learned from my kids this year.
(as cheesy as it sounds)
Lesson 1: How to Love a Person for Who They Are
Kids don’t care who you are or where you come from, they love you for you. We had kids from all different backgrounds with all different personalities from all different places (even as far as Japan), but that didn’t stop any of my kids from being friends with each other. All of my kids love each other deeply. We were a class of love, no matter what. It didn’t matter who was acting out, or angry, or whatever. Everyone was always loved.
They made me very proud.
Lesson 2: Hugs Really Do Make it Better
Anytime a child fell down or bumped their head (or any little injury) one of the first things we asked was if they needed a hug. Most of the time, even if they child was crying, after they hugged it out for a second, they were okay. Sometimes you just need a little love. I am now a firm believer in the medicinal qualities of a warm embrace or a good back rub…
Lesson 3: Time Outs Help You Cool Off
Sometimes you just can’t help yourself. People make mistakes; kids make mistakes. Sometimes, you get so angry and you can’t control yourself and you just need to walk away from the situation, take some deep breaths, and calm down. There’s nothing wrong with excusing yourself to gain your self-control back. Whether you sit until you’re ready to join the group again or you need to sit and talk it out, taking a break is a good way to regain control of your emotions
Lesson 4: Sharing is a Process
I’ll admit, a lot of my kids weren’t great at sharing at the beginning of the year (it’s a lesson you keep learning), but by the end of the year they really did make me proud. If they were fighting over a toy, a lot of the time I would hear them say, “why don’t we take turns?” and they actually would do it. The person who had the toy first would play for a minute and then hand they toy off and say, “here, it’s your turn now.” Even if they wanted to keep playing, they knew their friends would get to play, too.
Lesson 5: Anyone Can Dance (Even if You Have No Idea What You’re Doing)
Just turn on music and children will dance. It’s one of the things I love most about kids. They don’t care what anyone thinks, if they feel so inclined, they’re going to dance. On rainy days I would bring my speaker to school and we would have dance parties to get the wiggles out since we couldn’t go outside. Kids are GREAT dancers. They do whatever dance move they feel like and make it up as they go, laughing and giggling all the while. I think that’s how all dancing should be.
Lesson 6: Giving is True Love
My kids never cease to amaze me with their giving hearts. They constantly draw pictures for not only my lead teacher and I, but for each other as well. They just want to show how much they love each either by giving away something that they made with their own two hands.
But my kids were also good at giving things they really cared about as well.
One day at lunch I was sitting with the kids and a little boy turns to me and says “Miss Cindy, you can have this brownie; I saved the best one for you.”
I said, “Oh honey, that’s so sweet, but you can eat it. That’s okay.”
To which he replies, “No. I want you to have it. Even if you don’t eat it now. You can take it home to eat it later.”
What a babe!! I’m going to be honest with you, I teared up a little. He had 3 little brownies in his lunch and he saved an entire brownie for me. My kids have the BEST hearts!!!
Lesson 7: People Don’t Always Want to Play with You, But That’s Okay
Sometimes, people just don’t want to play with you. It’s not because they don’t like you anymore; it may just be that they’re kind of sad and want to be alone, or maybe they just don’t feel like people-ing right now. Sometimes they just really want to spend time with a different friend, and that’s okay. They still like you and want to be your friend and you didn’t do anything wrong. When they’re ready to play with you again, they’ll tell you.
Lesson 8: Forgiving is Easy
Every time we’re outside, I have at least one kid run up to me and say, “Miss Cindy!! So-and-So hit me (or chased me, or wasn’t very nice to me, or threw mulch at me).”
So I call So-and-So over and ask, “Why did you hit my friend here?”
And they’ll say something along the lines of, “Well they made me mad!!”
And I’ll remind them of our rule, “We don’t hit our friends. Can you please apologize to them and give them a hug?”
And then they’ll say sorry and hug it out. Then they’ll say, “Come on, let’s go play!”
And just like that, all is well with the world. Grudges are never held. They acknowledge the problem, apologize and forgive, and get back to normal. The relationship doesn’t waiver.
Lesson 9: Sometimes You Just have to Cry Until You Feel Better
I have a few friends who have trouble expressing their emotions. They search for how to say it, realize they can’t articulate it, and cry instead. If you just pat them or hug them until they get it out, they’re all better. Crying is good. It releases all those pent up emotions and let’s them float away. I wasn’t much of a crier before, but this week has had me going. And it’s been good, I think that crying helps you process your emotions.
Lesson 10: Love is Easy
My kids don’t have to try to love. It’s a part of their very being. They’re made of love. They adore their parents, their grandparents, their friends, and we teachers. They love you with reckless abandonment regardless of who you are. They love you for you. My kids tell me daily that they love me (and I them), and a few of them say, “Miss Cindy, I love you with all my heart.” Talk about a tear jerker. They just love me to my core. They also taught me about loving people even when they drive you crazy. Some days are rough, some days are incredibly frustrating, but when you look them in the eye and see all that love they have inside, it doesn’t matter so much anymore.
But the point is, my kids don’t have to try to love. They just do it. It’s not hard, they just love with everything they’ve got. That’s an important lesson we all need to try to preen from.
And that’s my big takeaways from preschool this year.
Oh, and if you hadn’t picked up on it, a lot of my kids struggle with pronouncing, “Miss Sydney,” and it comes out more like, “Miss Cindy.” I find it adorable.
This has been one of the best seasons of my life. I have loved teaching my kids all year (seriously, who knew I was a kid person??), and hope that I have many more in the future. My kids have stolen a huge chunk of my heart, and I am forever grateful. For now, I’m taking a break from teaching and going to college so I can get certified and have my own class.
If you’re a parent of one of the kids in my class this year reading this, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me step into your child’s life this year. Thank you for sharing them with me for these ten months and letting me learn from them. They have made a huge impact on my life, and I can’t imagine what I would have possibly done without them this year. Truly, thank you.
And yes, I’ll still be crying about missing my kids for a few more days to come.
SPECIAL BONUS FEATURE:
Lesson 11: It’s not a party unless there’s donuts.
That’s a direct quote. I think we should all take note.
