Windy Hill, Aiden's preschool, is closed for 2 weeks around the holidays. Their schedule is based on the Colby-Sawyer College calendar, so parents who are faculty/staff are all set- they already have the same days off. For those of us not associated with the college, two weeks is a long time to miss work. So a group of families who live within a few miles of one another decided to band together and each take a day to watch the kids as a group. On the days we're not watching, theoretically, we're able to go to work and spare the vacation/sick days. 
Today was our day to host "Camp Chaos" as Andy and I are calling it. Three four-year olds and a three-year old. How hard could it be?! Well, as it turned out, it wasn't terribly hard... but I wouldn't say it was easy either. I handled the morning on my own, and then Andy came home for a half day of reinforcements in the afternoon. I was glad for the back-up. We did art projects, played trains and puppy rescue, visited the library and the ice cream shop, played hockey on the public ice rink on the green, and watched Ice Age 2. Then we were fresh out of ideas, so it was basically a free-for-all from that point forward.
We learned that 15 minutes is about as long as you can reasonably expect four 3-4 yr olds to concentrate on any one activity. We learned that getting four kids to nap at the same time is not even something you want to attempt. We learned that 1 meltdown/hour is about average for a group that size. We learned that even if you keep them playing out in the cold for a few hours, that doesn't mean they'll be ready to chill out quietly (even if there's TV involved) when they get back inside. Finally I'd say we have a sincere and newfound respect for the Windy Hill teachers who take these little monster-angels for 8 hours every day at a ratio of 6 kids to 1 staff. Don't know how they do it, but we are seriously impressed!
1 comment:
Wow. I'm impressed!
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