An Open Letter to My Son’s Preschool Teachers
It’s been a little over a month since my two-and-half year old son started attending your preschool. At the expense of sounding like the neurotic American mom in this lovely Dutch village, I would love to share a few of my thoughts.
I have to confess that I initially had my reservations. There was no formal preschool application requesting a full summary of all the accomplishments our son made in the first 28 months of his life. No personal statements, no reference letters, nor our credentials were asked. There was only a single sheet requesting our family’s basic information – names, home address, occupations and a bank account number- and preferred days to attend. The only limitation was just how long the wait list happens to be. Thank-you for sparing us the unnecessary and ridiculous stress of trying to prove that our son is worthy of being part of an institutionalized playgroup.
For a brief moment I questioned whether or not the lack of exclusivity directly reflected the quality of preschool education my son was going to receive. Please forgive me for my momentary lapse in common sense and judgement. I’m still recovering from the ultra-competitive and selective private schools and higher education institutions that governed my daily reality for twenty years of my life (which speaks volumes because I’m thirty-two). It’s hard not to get emotional about this because my immigrant Filipino parents made tremendous sacrifices to guarantee that my inheritance would be a world-class education.
Your open door policy for all the little preschool children reflects your country’s steadfast belief that quality education is a universal right, not just for the privileged few. That all children, regardless of socioeconomic background and educational attainment of their parents, are to be educated to a high standard, starting with early childhood education.
I’m also a bit ashamed that I have no idea what the pedagogical philosophy of your nursery actually is. There’s no mention of Reggio Emilia, Waldorf, or Montessori. I took a leap of faith and trusted that your combined 80 years of experience and credentials in early education would suffice. From my understanding, you’re following the general set pedagogy outlined by the Dutch government. Brilliant. Because let’s all keep it real here (something the Dutch have a special talent for) – good, old-fashioned play is what should be at the heart of all preschools. The beautiful, underrated but essential act of playing is what almost all developmental psychologists, neuroscientists and education experts advise and emphasize for the seven year old and under crowd.
And we all know that if we have the time to have open-ended discussions about which educational “philosophy” perfectly complements our child’s socioemotional development and hence would best facilitate his future academic success, chances are that little Bram would be fine either way. Some would even argue that he wouldn’t need to go to preschool but that’s a whole other discussion.
Thank-you for your kindness and patience as you introduce my son to the concept of school. The time he spends at your preschool is possibly the most influential year and a half of my son’s educational trajectory – the crucial moment where he will either fall in love with “school”, or be dismayed by it. Your energy, creativity and passion demonstrate that you ladies understand this and are fully committed to helping instill a love of learning in all your students.
Thank-you for having great expectations of introducing him to the big kid world but also having the grace to understand that he’s also still a toddler and even sometimes, still very much a baby. Thank-you for the diaper changes (Bless your hearts!) and not requiring him to be fully potty trained before he’s truly ready. Thank-you for teaching him songs, different dances, and how to play with other kids. Thank-you for making his heart jump with joy when it’s time for a snack and teaching him to wait to eat it until everyone received their own. Thank-you for the daily art and crafts gifts personally made by him – it always feels like a mini Christmas when I come to pick him up. Thank-you for texting me a picture of my son happily sitting in the infamous kring (Dutch circle) during his very first day of preschool when you knew that my heart was breaking into a million pieces. And how for the first two weeks, you held and consoled him, wiping away his tears and worries while he adjusted to his new environment away from his mom. Thank-you for giving him back to me with the widest grin on his face when playschool’s over, just the right amount of being tired and his bright brown eyes sparkling from all the new discoveries of the day.
Thank-you.
Kind regards,
Rina Mae, the only American mom in the village.
