Saturday, November 13, 2010

Mixed Messages

Ally's daycare center sends an information sheet home with her each day. It's basically a daily report card on how Ally did that day, whether she ate all her lunch and played well with the other kids, or if she ran with scissors and didn't keep her hands to herself. It also lists if she took a nap and how long it was if she did.

Lately Ally hasn't been behaving very well at nap time. I know many toddlers have given up their afternoon naps at three and a half years old, so I'm not surprised that Ally is starting to do the same now. However, she's still expected to stay on her mat and be quiet during nap time, typically about an hour, so her classmates can still take one if they want. She can look at books during this time if she likes. What she can't do is run around the room screaming like a banshee, although this has happened more than once this past week. When Ally acts up during nap time and disturbs the other kids trying to take a nap, she's sent to the director's office for a stern lecture. Yep, she's already been to the principal's office multiple times at the ripe old age of three and a half. A repeat offender, even. It's our fervent hope that she doesn't get herself suspended from day care before she's four.

At any rate, sometimes the director tells us about Ally's behavior when she's been less than good and sometimes we hear about it from her classroom teacher and sometimes we hear from both her teacher and the director. Sometimes it's just a note on her information sheet that gets sent home. I've begun to notice that sometimes Person A describes Ally's behavior with a little more frustration and concern that Person B does, even when relating the same incident. And now there's the information sheet that was sent home yesterday.

Nap time: 1:40 to 2:45 pm
Written in black ink: Had a hard time staying on mat. Ms. A
Written in blue ink in a different hand: Ally had an awesome day! She took a great nap and listened so well today. Ms. D

Clearly some of the staff at the daycare center have different opinions on what constitutes good and appropriate toddler behavior at nap time. At this point I'm inclined to shrug my shoulders and let the daycare work it out with Ally as long as she doesn't actually set the center on fire.

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