Today is a Big Day for my family! Our only grandchild, our two-and-a-half year old young lady, starts preschool today. There is more excitement in the family (certainly more worried adults) than when her mother began kindergarten or her uncle entered high school. The tuition is almost what Stanford cost when I was growing up, so it will take all of us to see her through to first grade. The question is: will we survive the agitation of all the preparation for this youngster’s education?
Now, don’t get “preschool” confused with “childcare” or “nursery school”. Believe me, this is something entirely different and far more sophisticated; our precious, precocious Little One will become a proud member of the “Penguin” class in the “Yellow Building” today…and I couldn’t be prouder.
In preparation for an auspicious beginning to her academic career, this child has been making practice runs to the school for weeks now, she’s met her classmates, been assigned to her teacher and classroom, attended a family outing with her fellow future scholars and most importantly, learned to say “pee pee”– and mean it–as she runs to the potty, fast as her tiny feet will carry her.
Her grandfather and I are convinced that our granddaughter is already a certified Winner. Why? Because she’s been selected for the incoming class at this preschool, surviving a competition with four hundred other hopefuls! When we heard the news, we all celebrated. Why were we so excited? Because the learning focus at this particular preschool will be what I call “conflict resolution for toddlers”. The children will be taught how to negotiate, how to listen and how to get along with others.
Being both a grandma and a journalist, I am more than aware that these skills are absolutely necessary for human survival in a nuclear-armed world, on a planet poised to destroy itself at any moment. Our children must learn as early as possible that there are many answers to the same question, all based on truths learned within our respective cultures. As a journalist and a newshound, I happen to know that at this very moment there are eight major conflicts and two dozen minor wars raging around the world. Of course, there is no such thing as a “minor war”, not if there is any loss of life, limbs or livelihood, and especially if the conflict is initiated just because some adults did not learn as children how to negotiate, how to listen and how to get along with others.
So, as soon as all of the silly parents and grandparents finally pocket our tear-moistened handkerchiefs and head to our homes and jobs, our little darlings will start training to become citizens of the future, to become survivors in our flawed and fragile world.
As an only child, our granddaughter has been coached to learn colors, to love books and music, and to count to ten–all the appropriate ways to achieve preschool readiness. But like so many doting families, we have found it difficult to teach her to share with others. She’s the center of our universe, but now she must learn how big the real universe is, and realize that she is not the central planet around which everything must orbit. She’s just one more little star twinkling, twinkling in the sky.
She will learn that “mine” does not begin with a capital “m”, nor is it followed by an exclamation mark! She will learn the true meaning of the words “we”, “us” and “ours”. As she climbs the ladder from “Penguin” to “Prairie Dog” to “Panda” and finally “Polar Bear”, I will share her social development with you, my readers, because I am one proud Grandma.
And because we all need to learn how to get along with one another, no matter how young–or how old–we are.
Originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle online edition The Gate.
No comments:
Post a Comment