My Expelled Son

I'm a teacher. I've taken all kinds of courses in child development, learned various strategies in classroom management, etc. I even have a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership! Wouldn't you think that I could get one very small three year old child to do what I wanted him to do???? Of course not!

This has taken me a week to write about, because up until now, I couldn't even THINK about this without crying. Last Friday, just as I was walking into a meeting with the rest of my History team, my cell phone rings. Uh oh! Everyone knows I'm at school and to email if they need to get a hold of me. It must be an emergency--Trey's school will call my school number so it has to be Kyle. Hello? Hi Robin. This is Patrick at -----. I have your son in the office with me. He's throwing a fit and is hurting the other children. We feel you need to find another day care for him to attend, because he can't come back here....try a small home center, blah, blah, blah! Wait a minute! You're kicking my son out of PRESCHOOL?????? He's being kicked out of school at THREE YEARS OLD???? What did he do? He head butted a little girl because she wouldn't stop crying and it hurt his ears! OMGOSH! Where did he learn to do that??? I was so humiliated--all I could do all day was cry. To be fair, they had warned me the week before (his first week of school!) that he was having problems adjusting and that preschool may not be what's best for him. But we talked and I explained that he had never been in a day care situation and he needed to learn to share, and to play w/ other kids, etc., and he couldn't do that if I had him w/ a babysitter by himself. That's where he's been for the past three years and thaty's WHY he's so spoiled now. So they agreed to give him a chance. Well, the following week, he missed the first 2 days because he had strep, and then the next two days were good days, so I really wasn't expecting that call. So I spent the rest of that day trying to find a place for him to go starting this Monday.

Luckily I hit upon a WONDERFUL one on the first try....Kyle is HAPPY there---he waves good bye and skedaddles to his room before I can even get him checked in. The last one---he clung to my pant leg and I had to peel him off of me to leave. At the old one, he refused to do circle time, or any papers, or to sit down to listen to stories. Now, he takes books so his teacher can read them--SHARING them w/ the other kids!!!! I have pictures that he's colored all over my refrigerator and cabinets, and he's a totally different child!!!

When I try to talk to him about his first experience, he gets a closed off look on his face and changes the subject. If he talks about his new school, he's animated and tells me all about it!