When Kids Bark

One of my smalls was out for a couple days this week. She actually started getting sick on Friday evening, her mom said, and was sick all weekend.

If it were my kid, I would not have sent her back to school just yet. She was BARKING every few minutes. Oh sure, she thought she was coughing, but if you didn't see her, you'd think it was a dog. An angry dog.

And she's one of the K kids, which means that even if she remembers to cover her cough (and mostly she didn't remember) she's not very good at it. That room was full of whatever she was coughing out.

I know it really doesn't matter, I work in a germ factory.
The whole school is full of whatever she was coughing out. And full of what the other 400+ kids are coughing out. Occupational hazard.

I love kids, which is why I do this work, but kids are gross. It was the thing I found most difficult to get used to when I started this job almost 19 years ago.

October 14, 2004. Comin' up on another anniversary.

So Sandy was barking all afternoon. Really, Karenna and her little sister were out last week with the same bark, so there will probably be more of my kids who won't be feeling great next week. As long as I'm not one of them, I guess.

We've had the usual crop of loose teeth, little arguments about who had which toys yesterday ("Hey, we start fresh every day. If everyone were allowed to keep the best things they make, there would not be more pieces to build with.") and silly behaviors.

We have a new enrollment, a girl.
I don't care about a possible diagnosis other than to give myself reminders about what may be more difficult for a kid due to their differences. Buuuttt....

She has hyperflexion of her joints, is kind of floppy and energetic at the same time. She makes inappropriate noises at inopportune moments and is really bad at picking up on social cues.

She pisses people off, but I don't think she's trying to. The other kids don't really want to play with her because after she plays for a few minutes she starts trying to make them angry. She pokes at them or takes toys from their hands or shoves them when she thinks no one is looking. There is a lot of, "No, go play somewhere else, I don't want to play with you," which hurts her feelings but also inspires her to new levels of mischief.

I was trying to do a roll call today as we came in from our outdoor time, and she was making chicken noises and jumping around and barking and and flapping. Part of it was because she was trying to get some kids to laugh, but I think the biggest part was that she just couldn't stop herself. The other kids were NOT laughing, they wanted her to stop and weren't subtle about telling her to shut up or shushing her or looking stunned at her outburst.

When we got inside, I stepped over next to her where other kids couldn't hear and calmly said, "So we're talking over here because this is between us and not everyone needs to know your business. But I was trying to make sure all of you were with me when it was time to go in, you made a lot of noise and it took a really long time for us to finish. Can we agree that you won't do that when I am trying to do roll call? It's really not polite."

She looked surprised. I think it was more my tone and demeanor than my words. She's not used to people speaking to her like an equal.

She's what we in the daycare business refer to as a 'lifer'. Obviously not in front of her. She arrives at 6:30 in the morning and is picked up pretty close to 6 in the evening. A very long day for anyone who has to do that, but especially long when you're a kid. I don't fault people who need to be at work and have to leave their child(ren) either. It's just a fact of life. And I'll make sure she's well cared for when she's in my care.

But she also needs to do the whole basic respect thing.
She's artistic and smart and I know I can find her a variety of interesting things to do. But we're gonna have to work on the animal noises, I think. LOL

Went to the gym at our school for the first time this past week, too. I am working to teach them that we scream only when we are hurt or scared.

And not scared that your friend is going to tag you, either.

I tell them that if they scream and scream that I might get used to it and then if they scream for help I might not even notice. Not entirely true, mostly I just really hate to hear that high pitched screaming. Swear it could melt glass.

They did a good job of leaving things alone that don't belong to my program, though. I sure could use more sport equipment, but it's been kind of hard getting supplies this year. Company is moving to a larger facility and things are hectic in the purchasing department.

I could use a bit more of a few things, but thanks to a little help from friends (and FB strangers) I'm getting a great deal of stuff for our dramatic play cart. (Which the new programming person thinks I don't need because 'dramatic play is for preschoolers'...)

I only need a couple more babies and I think we're set.
There are many different races represented in our little group, and I want to have babies that look like the kids. And not because it's politically correct, either. I just think they should be learning the idea that all babies love the same. That how dark or light their skin is or if their eyes are round or almond shaped has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Babies are to love and care for.

So how's life where you are? Anyone bark at you lately?