Alarm Bells

As I mentioned in my last entry, Emmett started preschool last week. After the second day I got pulled in for a "chat" about Em's lack of listening skills and short attention span. This behavior "couldn't go on all year". I was asked to observe the next class to see if I had some suggestions for them.

I spend the whole day crying off and on, thinking I had somehow failed as a parent because my child wasn't falling in line at preschool. I was afraid he was going get kicked out of the program. I spoke to trusted friends and family about it over the weekend and went in there on Tuesday resolved to help my child adjust to preschool and support the teachers any way I could.

As I brought Em into the classroom, he started bawling, which surprised me since he had been fine the first couple of days. Alarm bells started going off in my head when I was consoling him in my lap and one of the teachers came up to him and said (well, more like yelled): "Come on Emmett, there are only 12 minutes left of play time and you CAN'T stay on your mom's lap, you need to get down here and PLAY."

I reacted slowly...things just kept going from bad to worse and something inside me was screaming "Something is NOT right about this". The pinnacle moment came when Emmett refused to draw something on the daily art project and the teacher grabbed his head and forced him to look at the paper while holding his arm and forcing him to draw. I don't know why I didn't slap this woman, I think I was in shock. I could NOT believe was I was seeing.

During this time one other child was crying for his mother - he was shown no compassion whatsoever, was told "You are in SCHOOL now and you should know better than to keep crying!"and was basically just put in a corner to cry. My mom suggested I go back to the school and find this boy's parents and tell them what happened. That's what I did this morning and I am SO glad that I did...alarm bells had been going off for them as well but what I told them convinced them not to put their kid back in that class. The boy's grandmother told me that when they went to pick him up on Tuesday, the teacher said "Oh, is he still in the bathroom?"

They had put him in the bathroom, closed the door and forgot about him. Him mom found him sobbing on the floor. Apparently this child's mother and grandmother also saw Emmett sobbing in a corner on the first day, and they thought it wasn't right.

I can't believe anyone would possibly think treating a child like that is acceptable. I've written a letter to the preschool director letting her know my concerns (and believe me, showing professionalism and restraint while writing it was no easy task) and Emmett will never set foot in that place again.

This was my first experience with the "mommy alarm bells" going off, and needing to advocate for my child. I am so grateful that I was in that class to witness what was going on and that I listened to my gut on this one.