It amazes me that Trio has not even been five for a whole month yet (even factoring in February's shortness) and already I can see the traits and characteristics that go with being five. Or at least the ones I noticed from when I was working at "The Daycare" (as I shall call it now since if I ever get to be famous writing I don't want to get sued for using the name in my stories. Which reminds me I should go back and edit all those blogs).
Anyways I digress.
Let me back up and give a story about my somewhat trepidation with the age of five. When I was still at "The Daycare" and I was in my last few months of pregnancy and pretty much a floater since I couldn't work with toddlers what with having to pick them up all the time, the room I was in a majority of the team was Pre-School. A room full of five-year olds. Now the thing in particular about this room is that they hadn't had a steady teacher for a long time and the person who was suppose to take over (no names) decided about halfway through trying to take over they didn't want to and was always looking to pop out. So they would send other teachers in, including me a majority of the time, into this room that without structure was basically chaos is in a class cube.
And it sucked.
Five can be a fun age. Five is the age they start really talking, start remembering memories, and the fun part of bargaining, which can be cute on some levels. However five year olds also need structure – gone are the days where kindergarten is just playing with clay and blocks if it ever even was that way. And what helps to cement this structure aside from a schedule of “We do this at this time and that at that time” is a consistent teacher who is always there with the exception of when they are sick. Why? Because if you have revolving door of teachers (in any class really) but especially at that age where personalities are fully formed and they are coherent and conscious of what they do kids are unsteady and unsure and they act out and you have....chaos in a class cube.
So frustrating and stressful I was in this classroom with all that factored in that I had a nightmare (yes I will call it that) about my son being born and they handed me a five-year old and I was like “Uh no that's not my baby”. Their response was “Yes it is congratulations.” And I was like “No really...I had a newborn baby...I'm not ready for that yet.” Which is not to say that these kids were hellions. They really weren't for the most part. Most of them were on their good days the sweetest kids on the face on the Earth. But with no structure, no lesson planning (because let's be real going into that classroom you could attempt lessons so much before you gave up because they weren't use to it and you can't up the rules in the middle of the game for that age because they don't get it and it is flat out not fair to punish because they don't), that class was a nightmare and the fact that after I expressed displeasure, after I expressed the stress (which was also a health factor given my advanced and pregnancy and family history) that I was continued to be put in there not because there wasn't enough people but because the person who was suppose to be in that classroom just didn't want to be, that I was still shoved in there was a factor into me not going back there after having my son. The pay (which was atrociously low and the fact that even with my “discount” my paycheck would have been all for naught) was most of it but that did not help.
Pre-school and kindergarten teachers are angels on Earth. I'm not wired to deal with a classroom full of five year olds. Believe it or not you give me toddlers and I'm solid. I may not have been the best toddler teacher and yes I know I tripped up but I loved that age. I love the wonderment in their eyes and the pure unadulterated love that comes from that age. And I can deal with dirty diapers, falling accidents, and puke from kiddos there. But massive amounts of five-year olds not something I can do and I appreciate Trio's teachers now. I appreciate his kindergarten teacher whomever that may end up being because I couldn't do it. I don't think that makes me weak or any less maternal. I believe a big part of being a good person is know where your strength and weaknesses lie. This going to be a challenging year for me with Trio because already he is showing all the signs of a five-year old that are the bittersweet combo of challenging and rewarding. He has such a strong personality (more on that on his blog) most of which I am told he gets from me. Now that he is bad but he's one of those if he doesn't want to do something and isn't interested you're gonna have a hard time (me). He is one of those that if he doesn't understand why he has to do something he will fight to have to do it (me). And he is argumentative (me).
Behavior wise I know I was a good kid. I wasn't a fighter, a back talker, I didn't skip class all that much and I kept my grades up. On that level I have nothing to fear from Trio. But with his personality, and bargaining, and having to do things he doesn't want to do just because and all those other things mentioned above? Yeah on that level—I can hear my Mom and Dad laughing from heaven just waiting to see how this all plays out.
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