Narra's Play School At Little Archers Learning Center

The children, painting drawings of buses with watercolor.

We took Narra to attend play school for the first time in her very young life, and I think I was more  nervous-anxious-excited than she was! We took her to Little Archers Learning Center at Mall of Asia (LALC-MOA) for a Playcare session of 2 hours of teacher-supervised structured play with other kids her age. I was supposed to leave Guijo and yayas at home, and just accompany Narra all by myself, but Yaya Ruby wanted to see Narra's first day in play school - and Yaya Jennilyn followed suit... we were all excited. So off we went to MOA, all 5 of us - 3 adults, 1 toddler, 1 baby.  When we got to LALC, I showed Narra her classroom and encouraged her to take a look on her own. The room had little tables and chairs, and numbers and letters on the walls - and activity boards at child's height. It brought back memories of my own nursery and kindergarten days!  I found everything so cute :-D

Narra inspecting her classroom before the session started.

Parents and yayas are encouraged to leave children in the care of the center's staff so they will benefit fully from interacting with their teachers and peers. So when classes started, we stayed outside, walked around, and just peeked every so often. The kids looked cute doing their activities: they did some singing, storytelling, and completed an art project using water color and crayons.  At some point, there was also recess. Narra barely touched the snack I brought her because she wanted to continue coloring during recess. I'll take that as a sign that she enjoyed the activity. 

Narra, focused on her coloring project during recess.

None of the things I feared actually happened. Whew! I feared she would cry, or throw a fit, or have "S" (as in sumpong), or fight with other kids over a toy, or book, or crayon.  I feared she'd look for me, and not want me to leave. Or worse, I feared she'd be mischievous and naughty, and destroy something, or be difficult to control, or make a classmate cry!  To my surprise, she was an absolute angel. She was well behaved, focused, obedient and cooperative.... and quiet! Where did my willful and noisy toddler go? Who is this little miss conduct in her place?

Little Archers provided a very secure environment conducive to learning. The teachers were great at handling the kids (and handling us parents too, I might add). They were authoritative and patient, effective and kind.  There were also many toys and books and padded play areas... costumes and props, and music!... all sorts of stuff that make kids feel at home. Narra came in tentative and hesitant, and went home comfortable and eager. That's a very good sign indeed.

Narra dutifully completing her art project towards the end of class.

We're deciding when to send Narra to pre-school. A lot of parents nowadays start sending their kids to school at 3. Oliver went to school at 4 years of age. I started at 5.   I wonder if it makes a difference? Sending her to Playcare sessions once a week allows us to get a feel for her readiness and need for school. Last Saturday was the first of ten sessions.  I am hoping that in the weeks to come, she'll make friends, and speak up, and interact more with her teachers and classmates. I hope she learns a bit more independence from me and her yayas, and becomes confident in facing social situations on her own. 

Proudly showing off her art project for the day.

When Narra completed her project, her teacher stamped a star on her hand. Oh how excited she was about that! She showed it to me proudly.  It's good she got to take home her art project for the day. She was excited to show it off to her papa, and grandparents, and aunties/uncles and cousins. I couldn't wait to post her little project on our fridge!

My oh my, how time flies. Didn't I just give birth to her? Wasn't she just a tiny little baby in my arms? How quickly she became a little girl. Next thing I know, she'll be graduating from college. Haha - ok, I am getting waaaay ahead of myself.  I took her to play school. It lasted 2 hours. It's a very simple thing. But it was a milestone for me, and her. For the first time, I turned her care over to a virtual stranger. I entrusted my child's instruction to a learning center, I relinquished control.  I let her go. Oh my. This was just 2 hours...and I was on pins and needles. I will have to steel myself for a lifetime's worth of letting go. I suddenly feel a profound sense of gratitude to my parents for letting me go so often, to far away places and for long periods, so I could learn life lessons from the whole wide world. Wow. I have to grow into my role as parent as my child grows up, and boy, do we have a loooong way to go. For now, I'll take baby steps with my toddler. We'll do 2 hours each Saturday at Little Archers Learning Center which is a very good place to start.