I am going to spend the next three years of my life explaining that the preschool we chose for Gatito, which is located in a church in the shadow of a department store, is not a religious program. I don’t know why, exactly, I feel the need to explain this, other than that I am an atheist and a Jew by culture, and I don’t want people thinking I’m sending my kid to learn about Jesus.
After eliminating $10,000/year programs and religious programs, we were down to two preschools recommended by neighbors. One couldn’t guarantee his spot for next September until January and the other required an answer the day after he won a spot through their lottery a few weeks ago, so the decision was simple.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not nervous about it. My (very shy) nephew’s preschool teachers letting him stand by himself all day, chewing on his hand, and then told my sister that he’s a loner and he likes to be alone, and by the way, he’ll never be a leader. Fuckers.
I’m terrified about sending Gatito out into the world, where I can’t control everything and make sure people make an effort to understand his every quirk and to care for him. I know that’s how life works, but he’s my baby, you know? It’s hard. And just because it’s over nine months away doesn’t mean I can’t start worrying now!
And by the way… how much trouble am I going to get him in if I can’t stop myself from calling it Our Lady of Macy’s?
It’s disappointing to me that the pre-school situation is as crazy in the ‘burbs as it is in the city.
Sounds like you made a good choice for Gatito, though…or at least the choice with the best shopping!
I had no idea you were Jewish by culture. Interesting.
And I’m afraid of the same things when it comes to sending the boys out into the world. It sounds, however, like you made a good choice.
It *is* scary letting our kids out in the world. You should know, though, that some of their teachers WILL try to understand his quirks — there are some good ones out there and I’ve found most preschool teachers really do love kids.
As a fellow atheist, I got a good giggle out of Our Lady of Macy’s. My thought is that if some teachings about Jesus happen to slip in, Gatitio is young enough for it to not have done any irrepairable harm
That is horrible about your nephew.
I have a friend who sent her son to a church basketball camp. Her father was an Episcopalian priest, so while not practicing, she was raised in that environment and all of her children were baptized by her father. Anyway, those bastards were getting ready to baptize her son! I can’t recall how she found out but she went down there and those freaks told her that her son had become a member of their church! He was like 10 years old! She sent her son out to the car and shared with them a few choice words to put it mildly.
Crazy!
As a strongly religious parent, I would be very offended if anyone attempted to teach my children something contrary to my beliefs. As such, I am very careful not to send my kids to programs/classes/clubs etc. where I know our beliefs and standards won’t be respected. It can be very hard to determine in advance though. I understand how you feel about sending him off alone to a place where you aren’t confident that the people will care about him the way you do. I still cringe at the thought of sending my kids to public school (there are no acceptable private schools in my area) or daycare. Gatito will undoubtedly repeat the “Our Lady of Macy’s” bit, hopefully they’ll think it’s funny.