Hi JuniorRain,
My girl will be starting next week... still not ready to 'release' her yet haha... very 'bu she de' leh. But this week I m bringing her to the school to look everyday... today is the 2nd day.
But today I had a bad experience from observing them. I was standing at the window looking in to let my girl see the children and teacher. There's this chinese teacher teaching a group of playgroup kids (the group that my girl will be joining). When I was there, she was teaching them colours and shapes. There's a boy doodling on a paper throughout, not paying attention. The teacher didn't do anything at that time. She was very friendly, wave to my girl etc.
Then after a while, I walked away. Suddenly, I hear a kid crying. So I walked back to the window with my girl and saw the doodling boy crying badly. And he doesn't have the paper and crayon anymore. So I presume after I walked away, the teacher snatched it away from him. He was really crying quite badly until I wonder whether the teacher do other things to him or not. When the teacher saw me at the window again, she tried to carry the boy to console him. At that time, I felt very sad for the boy. Then I thought to myself, is this the way my girl will be treated as well? Is she expected to follow the timetable exactly? Now I m having 2nd thoughts about sending her to childcare.
I'm not trying to say that it's not right for the teacher to do that. Anyway, I don't go around looking at what other teachers in other centres do so for all we know, this happens at all childcare centres. So I m wondering whether my girl is ready to start childcare and follow timetable or not... sigh.... I really pained my heart to see the boy crying and if it's my girl, I think I might withdraw her. Can't bear the thought of my girl not being able to doodle as she please =P
Also, from my 2nd day of observation (I only observe for about 30-40min from window, ard 9.30am), I find that most of the time, the children look quite restless. They are always seated on the chair, either doing nothing, drinking water or for today, supposedly listening to the teacher. I can't expect my girl to remain seated for so long. Jus wondering what will happen to my girl if she can't remain seated and yet made to sit already make my heart pain.