Michael, my three and a half year old,
starts preschool this week. Kind of. The preschool he is going to has
a "transition plan." And although some moms are sad when their kids
start school, I'm just annoyed.
What exactly is a "transition plan?" I work 20 hours a week and my
son has been in daycare 3 days a week since he was 5 months old. I
understand that this is not true of all children, but the "transition
plan" is wreaking havoc on my work schedule. I will basically not be
at work for two weeks while he is "transitioning." And since I was on
vacation last week, that's three weeks gone.
It
starts this week with two days of "meet and greets" one hour each. Um,
an hour doesn't give me much time to do anything except drop him off,
grab coffee, and pick him up. And then I have to go to to these meet
the teacher things for 15 minutes each. And then there is the
mandatory parent orientation without childcare. And two back to school
nights, also without childcare.
Next week the actual school starts, but for the first week there is
no before or after care. So Michael is in school for a total of 3
hours for 4 mornings. Oh yeah, I'm totally getting a lot done in that
period of time.
I'm not trying to complain, I really like the school we picked. And
it's not one of those hoighty toighty we promise to get your child into
Harvard preschools. It's a small, friendly, play based school that
places a lot of emphasis on your child's adjustment. And that's great.
Except, I really don't think pre school is set up for working
parents. Between the "transition plan" and the school calendar which
includes more days off then they are actually in school, I'm just not
sure how I'm fitting in working in my "transition plan."
