Boring School

Winston has proven to be a resilient and adaptive kid, but he did not exactly like daycare in the first week. From what I could observe, it was rather boring for him, with its crowded rooms, small yards, unattentive teachers and uncommunicative kids (the other kids in his class seem to be rather slow in their language development).

I found myself questioning my judgment of sending him to daycare before the age of two. Why did I do it? - I asked myself. While I found myself besieged by well-meaning family and friends urging me to send him to daycare before, now that he is attending daycare, I seem to discover that anyone who can afford to keep their kids at home until the age of three are keeping their kids at home until the age of three - with very few exceptions.

He's learning to speak so much that he can rattle off a complete nursery rhyme in one breath. He can sing "Happy Birthday" now. He can sing the alphabet from beginning to end. He loves to repeat and imitate. At daycare, there is simply not that much attention on his education.

And of course, I find the daycare hygiene to be extremely poor. Those with robust immune systems would get sick often in such an environment, let alone him who has not been exposed to many nasty pathogens. But mostly my disappointment with the daycare center is its lack of excitement.

Over the weekend, I had to indulge Winston with different parks and playgrounds, and just playing in my car (climbing up and down and from front seat to back seat) offered him tremendous joy.

Yesterday around dawn, when I was woken up by the noise from the baby monitor of Winston turning in his crib, I suddenly remembered that he would have to go to daycare today. That thought elicited in me a feeling that I had long since forgotten - how on Sunday evening I dreaded going to school the next morning. The only difference is that this time I am dreading the school for my son!