Monday, June 04, 2007

Strangers In The Eyes of a Boy


Yohan has been attending classes at The Little Gym in Alabang since he was only a year old. There has been been great improvement on Yohan's emotional, intellectual and social skills when Jules and I enrolled him in their gym classes. Sadly, we did not enroll him this quarter because of the worsening traffic situation in SLEX due to the on-going constructions. Yohan expressed how much he misses his teachers there.

Yohan is three turning four years old. It's the right time for him to start formal pre-school. As much as I'd like to enroll him in The Little Gym's Terrific Tots program, the distance combined with the current traffic situation made us rule out this school. We have found a relatively good school nearer our area, The Nazareth School.

Today was Yohan's first day in nursery in a new school. We had to wake him up very early in the morning to get ready. As expected he was cranky and insisted that he wanted to continue sleeping. As he looked at the window, it was still dark. He was probably confused and told me that it was still night time so we should all go back to bed. Jules and I explained that it was early morning and the sun was just about to rise that's why it was still dark. Yohan didn't like the idea of getting up early to eat breakfast and get dressed for school.

Another new thing - the service. Yohan is used to riding our car going to school. I explained before hand that someone else was going to pick us up (me and Yohan). He was quite upset to see a strange van, strange driver and new faces of children already inside the service. He clung to me tightly most of the ride and kept whispering that he wanted to go home.

He was in a better mood when we arrived in school. The teachers were very nice to him and he was glad that I could go with him inside his classroom. Parents are allowed inside for two days or so.

Yohan was happy to get this sun stamp from his teacher. I apply the same concept at home. I have different kinds of stamps and stickers as rewards for a good job well done (e.g. returning his toys in the cabinet, doing art works, finishing his meal, taking a nap, etc.). Amazing how small things such as stamps and stickers mean so much to a child.

Tomorrow is another school day. I hope Yohan will be more open to the idea of waking up early and riding the service. I also hope that tomorrow, he will let me stay outside the classroom to wait for him.

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