Nursery
19 Aug 2008 3 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: child, children
Twelve days for K to start her trial at the nursery and I am probably more nervous than she is. A lot of my friends have warned me already that she is going to scream, shout and scream some more when I drop her off. While I know that and also know that she will soon forget as I walk out of the door, it still upsets me. I was mentioning this to R the other day over dinner and even as I was talking, tears were streaming down my face. He, being the ever practical man that he is, is seemingly unfazed by this whole new development.
I have started talking to K everyday about her nursery. Telling her about how she will have other children to play with, how they will take her to the park everyday, how they will have fun activities planned, lots of toys. I try and make her repeat the name of her nursery so that it sounds familiar to her. I have even made up names of two kids who will be there – Anna and james and I sure hope they exist. I do plan to find out the names of some children on the first day but this is for till then. I think she understands but one can never be sure, but she listens ardently, hanging on to every word of mine.
I was speaking to a friend P who is an old-timer at this and sends her children to the nursery for a long time now. Her daughter has been going to one since she was 5 months and is one of the most social kids that I know. She was advising me to set a routine and stick to it - P’s husband used to drop their daughter to the nursery all along, but recently P has been doing it because P’s husband takes their older son to school. P was telling me that ever since this new routine started, the little one bawls every day, though as soon as P leaves the room, she is fine. P was telling me that she plays that moment in her head over and over during the course of the day, calls the nursery umpteen times, yet she is seldom at peace. I could literally feel my heart break into a million pieces when she said that.
My boss asked me if I could travel during that nursery settling-in week as some last minute stuff has come up. He cant go as he is on holiday. I told him that I cant, quite apologetically, even though I had mentioned to him a couple of weeks ago that I cant travel. He stopped me right there, said I have NOTHING to be apologetic about – that family comes first and job is secondary, after all its only a means to an end. Obviously I know that, but its nice to work for a boss who understands and for him to reiterate it. Helps that he has two little children himself – his oldest being only a couple of months older than mine.
