Monday, July 30, 2012

Preparing for kindy

Now that Peanut is going to Kindy next year, I've started prepping and mentally reminding her that she's going to school next year. So far, she's taking it all in her stride, always give me a cool "okay!!!!". Ceh..act cool only but i feel a storm is brewing cos knowing her, i think she's gonnna freak out.My worst fears: She will bawl her eyes out and will refuse to let me go out of her sight. How??

She doesn't attend pre-schools, and has been staying at home  during the day with her Popo. She knows her ABCs and numbers, do easy number additions, loves to paint and dance, and can speak clearly in long sentences, but throw her in any social situation, she turns from a tiger at home into a ...rabbit. Alamak. She's very VERY quiet among strangers, or people that she hardly sees, and she needs time to get used to her surroundings before she can "open up". I wanna refrain from using the word "shy" but that's what she is. And that's how I was when i was really young that I will turn bright red everytime a stranger approach me. Same genes lah haiyor. Lol.

So to prep her, and to get her to be more sociable before she goes into Kindy, I have been bringing her to Musikhaus and Kizsports during the weekends. Musikhaus sessions are 45 minutes each, and each class is RM38 and she's put in an age appropriate group. The first two lessons were pure torture for us. (us meaning me and DH). She refused to do anything, or touch anything, and the whole time she was  just sitting in my lap (A parent can accompany the child in the class). She just wanted to lie down and kept saying she's sleepy, and at the end of the class, when the teacher wanted to give her a ink chop on her hand, she held her arms back tightly.*face palm*

Other kids in the class were answering questions and doing whathever the teacher wanted, and i was getting sympathy glances from other parents lol, and everyone kept saying "oh..she's so shy". We did not attend Musikhaus the 3rd week, but instead we went to Kizsports, hoping a different environment will make her react differently. Kizsports has a lot of obstacles courses, with slides, tunnels, ball pits..the works! At first she was really hesitant, she didn't even wanna go into the ball pit and kept saying "interesting". Need to ponder one kah?? Asked her to go into the  tunnel, again she said "hmm..interesting". With the hand on her chin some more. Macam a professor deciphering a difficult code. After what seems like hours, she finally gained the courage to step gingerly into the ball pit...and then into the tunnels...and then finally, she was playing happily!! Hallelujah! She was climbing up and down, disappearing into tunnels, going down slides! Phews. At the end of the session, i was praising her non-stop to encourage her. Telling her because she tried, she managed to have fun. So all the way back home, i kept telling her "You must try everything. And if you fail you need to try again, see you had so much fun because you tried". So she's been repeating that ever since lol. That's our Motto for now. Though i need to change my tune when she turn into a teenager..later she really go and try everything how??

Then came the fourth week. Frankly, we were wondering whether we should bring her back to Musikhaus since she refused to do anything. But when we asked  her whether she still wanted to go , she always said yes and always seems very eager to go to class. So okay lor, bo pian cannot give up. Gave her a pep talk before going into the class. And finally, she participated! I will consider this a breakthrough la wtf. She danced, played games when the teacher asked her, wrote on the whiteboard, and she was attentive throughout the class and I didn't have to stick close to her. What a relief.. baby steps. Baby steps!! The real test waswhen we brought her to Marmalade in Bangsar yesterday. Marmalade has a small kids section in an enclosed room. There are lots of toys inside. Told her to go in and play by herself with other kids while we drank our coffees outside. Before, she would have refused (because she will say she's scared) or even if she goes, she'll want me to be very very close to her. But now, she can go in herself and play without much pushing from me.

DH and I both high-fived. Gotta keep this up. Hopefully, there will be less tears on her first day of Kindy..


2 comments:

Cynful Pleasure said...

when I read this, it sounded so similar with the one I had at home.. and I brought her to Sunday School to 'brave' her up.. guess, it's a phase for us to go through.. gambateh!

The Peanut Momster said...

Cyn: haha yah i'm also planning to bring her to SUnday School, as you put it, to "brave her up!" hahahha her kindy is where the church is, so gonna let her be familiar wif the envitronment :)