"My sister has an iphone. A pink one."

Her sister is seven years old.

A student of mine told me, "My sister got an iphone. A pink one."

Her sister is seven years old.

Seven.

7

Seriously?

Seven.

And the crazy thing is, I believe it.

That is the type of community I work in.

Just a typical day at preschool...

Quotes from my preschoolers are always entertaining. Today was one of those days they just kept making me chuckle.

"Who keeps leaving their balls in our room? It's kind of rude."

"You put your stick in the wrong place."

and my personal favorite...

"It's okay, I'll just marry both of you!"

What we need is a not-so-super nanny...

Are you familiar with Super Nanny? Basically, it's an hour long reality show where Jo, the Super nanny, comes to help out some poor helpless parents who are struggling big-time with their kids. Toddlers that won't go to (or stay in bed), kids throwing tantrums all over the place, tweens with attitudes, teens with attitudes, parents not seeing eye-to-eye, parents getting hit, kicked, punched, and/or spit at. The first half of the show is spent showing just how horrible the situation is and Jo establishes some rules, gives the parents advice and pep talks, and then leaves them to fend on their own. She returns the second half to review how they did, and "tweak" some techniques for everyone.
It's actually a great show to watch after a long day with my own kids, because I can sit back and think, "hey, at least it's not that bad here." Especially the episodes with young kids - and those kids who don't go to bed and sleep. Heck, we've got that sleep thing down pat over here. The episodes with older kids actually scare me just a bit - I always end up thinking, "How the hell did it get to be that bad for them?" And lately, I've been wishing there was some show with a Not-So-Super Nanny, for parents like us. Parents who pretty much have things under control, but then there's the little things and we just don't know what to do with. For us that would be the whining. We've tried ignoring it, or saying, "I'm not going to answer you when you use that voice." We've tried demonstrating how nasty it sounds. We've tried not giving him what he wants if he whined for it - even if he then goes back and asks in a "nice voice." (And the thing is - the nice voice isn't that nice, really.) And perhaps our problem is that we haven't tried any one technique for an extended period of time. But the problem with that is - what are we supposed to try - what's the technique that's been proved to work for whining? Oh, Not-So-Super Nanny, we need your help!

What help do you need for the Not-So-Super Nanny?

In Case I Didn't Know How...

Today at work I noticed a boy who can normally get himself zipped up and ready to go at the end of the day struggling with his zipper - so I offered to help him.
Me - Can I help you zip up your coat?
Boy - Sure, see this part here? It goes right in there.
Me - (nothing) - proceed to zip his coat
Boy - You got it!
Not sure if I said anything or not, but it was just too funny that he told me how that whole engaging the zipper thing works - in case I didn't know!

What Did You Say?

Yesterday at work I was sitting with a group of 4 and 5 year olds. They were working on a turkey project - basically water color painting however they wanted and then adding a turkey body to it. I really liked the way everyone was working (they were so into it), so I said, "Oh...everyone is working so hard." To which little Maggie says, "Yeah. Everyone except for you."

Yesterday at work we were, um, discussing very professionally, some issues and one of the first grade teachers said, "If they're a pain in the ass...." And I said, "Oh my gosh, did you just swear?" (I have never heard her swear and she's retiring this year. Picture the perfect first grade teacher - she plays guitar, sings songs to help her kids remember - she's just such a sweet Grandma type lady.) To which she replied, "What you've never heard me say fu#!ing? Or #*$&? You've never seen me hold both fingers up out the window on the way to work? Where have you been?" We were all in tears laughing so hard. It was nice to have the little stress relief after a very rough two weeks.

Trick or Treat?

I saw him coming up the path to our door, so I go to the door, go to open it, and notice he's walking away! What? Further investigation shows the following cause for the interuption in his trick-or-treating:Can you see what's holding him up? Click on the picture to enlarge if you can't. After about a 10 minute conversation, he approaches the door again. I go and open it - and this is what he says, "Hey. Sorry about that I got a little distracted. Trick or Treat?"