A preschool teacher's mantra...

So, lately I have been finding myself saying certain things over and over to my class of 3 year olds.  Things that are obvious facts, but yet seem to elude them for some reason.  If you work with kids, you know very well that nagging them to death by saying "don't do this" or "don't do that" doesn't get you very far and they begin to tune you out after they hear you say "stop hitting your friends" for the umpteenth time. 


Therefore, I have started speaking to them about certain things by making simple statements such as "shoes are not toys" when they put their shoes on and off and on and off and ON AND OFF AND OOOOON AND OOOOFF for the millionth time that day.  If you are teacher, the following list of things I say EVERYDAY (at least twice a day) will probably not surprise you......but if you don't work with kids, your jaw might just hit the keyboard.  At the very least, everyone should get a laugh out of reading the following...gotta laugh to make it through the day after all...


1) Things that are not FOOD:  Clothes are not food....you are not a goat.  Scissors are not food.....are you TRYING to hurt yourself!  Plastic hammers are not food....your teeth are not nails, therefore, there is no reason to put that in your mouth.  Shoelaces are not food...put them in your mouth again and I will take your laces...and your shoes.  Your blanket is not food....we just had lunch, you shouldn't be hungry and AGAIN, you are not a goat.  


2) Things that are not TOYS:  The edge you tore off the bag of your goldfish crackers is not a toy....please don't blow it across the table onto your friends- throw it in the trash where it won't get you in trouble.  Nap cots are not toys....don't you remember last week when you jumped on it like that and you got a bruise the size of an orange when you fell? Hmmmm??? Don't cha?!  The water cooler is not a toy....if you push the button on it just to watch the water flow like a waterfall, you are still going to have to clean it up and you are not going to get any water to drink.  Woodchips (on the playground) are not toys.....getting splinters isn't very much fun for you, or for me when I have to remove them and you won't hold still and just keep wiggling around like a worm.


3) Things that are not HATS:  Library books are not hats....your hair does not have eyes.  Your lunch plate is not a hat.....last time I checked, macaroni and cheese sauce wasn't shampoo.  Cups are not hats...no, I'm not really sorry your hair is wet...it was about 5 drops of milk, it will dry...you made the choice to put in on your head...there are consequences for your actions.


What can I say....I tell it like it is, and in return, I get a whole bunch of silly turkeys that make me crazy and make me happy all at the same time.  And sometimes, I even get something really special in return for all my zaniness, like today's "Profound Preschool" quote of the day.. From "Alvin" age 3....after I got through explaining that our smile was the shape of a crescent, and I told everyone to show me a "smiley face"..."Alvin" said..."Mrs. Jessica....smiley faces, well, they just don't have hands...(pregnant and thoughtful pause).....or knees..."  ***Mrs. Jessica laughing out loud and almost ROFL - FOR REAL*** 


Moments like that make it all worth while.  


Peace out from the preschool teacher who is TRYING to be like Mary Poppins....practically perfect in every way.  <3

What's the word?

Well the word is I haven't been on in a while to write and here's why.....


Some jobs I had recently applied for fell through, and that was hard for me to come to terms with.  Every time I get turned down for or from a job interview, I always get discouraged and feel like things will never change for me.  But I know that is not true, and my friends and family helped me refocus on that fact and move forward.  


The next thing that happened was that my father lost his job about 3 weeks ago.  That was scary, but it appears he will be okay (thanks to savings and social security) but he wants to work for a few more years anyway.  He has so many skills and such a great work record, that I'm sure he find something soon.


As if that wasn't enough, it came to pass about 2 weeks ago that my mother thought she might be losing her job. I thought that couldn't possibly happen since she had been working for nearly 4 years at the child development center she worked at.  Her parents loved her. NAEYC and ECERS were ALWAYS taken to her room when they came for visits and her work record was implacable.  She came in early, stayed late and often didn't get lunch, nor did she complain.  Well wouldn't you know it. All that hard work, time, dedication and care didn't account for anything apparently.  She lost her job this past Friday.


My husband, as many of you know, is still unemployed.  NASA all but "shutting down" didn't exactly help all the already unemployed people in his field.


At this moment.....I am the only one in my family who has a job.  And yet the student loan people who call me at 6am.....all the way until 10pm tell me they are "so sorry for my situation, but they have no more deferment or forbearance options"....despite the fact that my income places my husband and myself BELOW the poverty level.  


So.....needless to say my blog, which I love writing on, has not been the first thing on my mind as of late.  Yet, I promise you I am not here to complain or get a "pity party."  I just need to get all these worries and troubles off my chest and out of my hands and into this post.  


I can't help but feel, despite this scary place we are at right now, that God has something wonderful in store for us.  He knows all. He is great!  God has blessed me with a job when I could have none.  He has blessed me with my health.  He has blessed me with my wonderful, loving husband.  He has blessed me with dear true life-long friends and "soul sisters" who make bearing these burdens possible.  He has blessed me with my faith.  I will keep that faith and trust in Him to take care of what I cannot and to trust that I can handle what He gives me.  


Someone I work with is celebrating 15 years of being in remission from breast cancer.  I need to stop and remember that when everything seems hopeless, it could be a LOT worse.


This economy has made things hard for many people.  I have been lucky that my family has been overall, unaffected, until this month.  Things will get better again.  Things will be BETTER than before...  :D

It's the climb...

Trust30 post for the day...

"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Write down a major life goal you have yet to achieve or even begin to take action on. For each goal, write down three uncertainties (fears) you have relating to each goal. Break it down further, and write down three reasons for each uncertainty. When you have three reasons for your fear, you’ll be able to start processing the change because you know where the fear stems from. Now you’ll be able to make a smaller changes that push you towards your larger goal. So begins the process of “trusting yourself.”

Life goal: Become a world class chef and end up on the Food Network

Uncertainties: 

1) That I won't follow through with the basic training I need to be a high caliber chef 

Reasons for this "uncertainty" : a) because I often start projects I am passionate about but I either loose interest, get distracted or do not have the time to devote to it and so I move on to the next "thing."  b) because I may have to go outside of South Carolina to get the necessary training and experience needed to become a master chef. c) because I won't have the support I need from those around me to commit to the grueling task of culinary school or another form of similar training.  Not that they wouldn't "support" me per say, just that, we usually just try to keep our heads above water these days and get by during these very hard economic times....so if right now, today, this veeeeeeery second I said, "Hey! I wanna go to culinary school and take over the world one crème brulee at a time...," I'm not certain how much approval/support it would receive. 

2) That I won't have the financial means to being pursuing this dream

Reasons for this "uncertainty" : a) because while we have always had enough to make it by, and truly I am grateful for this and I know I am extremely blessed, we have never had any extra money to throw around for "dreams."  It doesn't help that the economy and my husband's high education and experience level are keeping him unemployed.  It also doesn't help that the one industry, teaching, which was supposed to ALWAYS need people, hasn't been hiring in this state for over 3 years thus leaving me working in a day care where I make about one-third the pay I should be making.  I know one day things will get better.  That I will get a job that pays me the salary I deserve.  That my dear, sweet, hard working husband will become employed again and our lives and finances will become much more stable.  b) Even then though, I'm afraid we are going to have so much credit card debt and ever looming student loan debt, that we will still be in pretty much the same rut.  I need to think positively and I am honestly not a pessimist....just a realist.  If you don't expect too much out of life, you can't get too disappointed.  c) because when and if we ever have the money for me to purse the beginnings of this dream, I might be so happy to be financially secure that I wind up spending the extra money I could use on this dream, on other things that we want and need and will now finally be able to afford.   

3) That I won't have the necessary time to put in to educate myself further on "food"

Reasons for this "uncertainty" : a) because I already feel like I never seem to have "enough time to do the things I wanna do once I find them" (to quote Jim Croce, "Time in a bottle") and there are SO many things that I love to do already and still want to do, that I don't know how I could ever make myself focus on just this one thing, even it is what I love the most.  b) if I decide to pursue this dream, what else is going to suffer by the wayside?  Will it be something far more important like friends and family and my teaching career, which will probably be still supporting us mainly.  I can't see myself ever pushing away people in my life in order to purse this "food star," or any dream...but sometimes it's a necessary evil if you are going to reach your goal 

c) I already have a lot on my plate these days with friends and family and all kinds of other things that fall on my shoulders, I just feel that at the end of the day after taking care of all that, I won't want to or care to go practice my julienne cuts and other knife skills or successful creations of gastriques.....I will mostly likely want to sit and do nothing and simply clear my head.  However, no one can reach their goals without getting off their butts and doing something.  Dreams are not handed to us on a nice silver platter....just watch any Disney film to see how true THAT is! Haha!

So what I have learned from all this is?  That I have nothing to fear but fear itself.  Thank you FDR.  I guess there is always something you can tell yourself as an excuse to avoid doing something you love.  In my case my fears of lack of money, time and support in pursuing a culinary path.  

Much love...