A Lesson in Independence

I got to be the "helping parent" in Collins's classroom for the first time this week. This meant that I spent the whole three hours in her class playing with the kids, providing and serving the snack, and doing some clean-up jobs.

I've always been curious to know more about what she does in school each day, and I found the experience eye-opening. There was the expected free play, circle time, playground time, and snack time. What was surprising to me was how much indepedence they are teaching them at two! For example:

1. They have to wash their own hands upon entering the classroom.

2. On the playground, they have to figure out how to get on the swing by themselves and they only get one push from the teacher. They have to take it from there to make themselves go.

3. When they get back from the playground, they have to dump the sand from their shoes and figure out how to get their (velcro) shoes back on themselves (this is where the monster meltdown came from Collins on Tuesday!).

4. After snack, they have to take their plate and scrape the leftovers into the trash and put it in the dishwashing bin.

We have not been doing any of these things by ourselves at home! I guess I was just assuming she wasn't ready for any of these tasks yet, but obviously she is. Going to school taught me I need to stop babying Collins and encourage her to act like the big girl that she is!

Some pictures from my day at school...