It’ll come as no surprise that I did not grow up in the gorgeous country town in which I live now.
Or it might come as a surprise to everyone who doesn’t live here – but anyone who does will know I am not a local.
Mostly because it really is one of those places where you will never be local unless you were born here. I will always be the “teacher’s daughter from Canberra.”
I’m ok with that, most of the time.
I am not OK with that when it takes me a billion years to learn what everyone else just accepts around here.
Like that there is only one local public preschool.
It’s on the other side of town and recent weeks (with the lead up to the decision of where to send Roo to preschool) have seen me cursing the skies for choosing a house on the opposite side of the main street, at the wrong end of the hill (read: wrong = down one hill and then up another, then down and up again to get home).
Especially seeing as getting off my L’s and onto my provisional license has proved elusive for the past 8 years in the past…
And after putting it off for weeks, I decided that today I would do the rounds and suss out all the preschools. Via phone.
My theory is that I can tell how awesome a preschool it is by how exhausted/bored/chirpy/deliriously happy/hostile the person answering the phone is.
Exhausted is probably good – exhausted implies that a day spent with 20+ 4 year olds is particularly tiring. Which I find totally understandable.
Bored is probably not so good, yet won’t turn me off immediately.
Chirpy implies either youth and/or inexperience, or a rather strict naptime regiment.
Deliriously happy concerns me – either the kids are all chained up out the back or the carers are drunk. The type of people I’d love to be friends with, but not so much caring for my child 2-3 days per week.
Hostile is the worst – I don’t want to send my child somewhere for her to be yelled at, ignored or spoken to sarcastically. That’s what she has me for.
So I ring the one and only preschool in town. Here’s how it went:
“… Preschool.”
“Hi, my name is Daisy and I wanted to enquire about sending my daughter to preschool with you next year.”
“Yes.”
“I was wondering if you have any places?”
“Yes.”
“Um, ok. When does enrollment close?”
“We are taking enrollments now. Can I ask you a few questions?”
“Of course. Hang on, could you give me a minute, I have to wipe my daughter’s bottom.”
“Of course.”
(Elevator music. And by elevator music I mean the sound of flushing toilet.)
“Ok, I’m ready.”
“OK, what is your daughter’s name?”
“Rory. R-O-R-Y. …”
“And what her birthdate?”
“14/12/08″
“And what is your name?”
“Daisy …”
“Daisy?”
“Yep, Daisy, like the flower.”
“Rory like the flower too Mummy!”
“Yes, darling, Rory like the flower as well.”
The conversation continues as I give the efficent woman on the other end of the line my details.
And then she says:
“So she will be turning 4 in December, so she will probably go on a Tuesday or Wednesday with the under 4′s. We have a few groups, the 3′s, the under 4′s, the over 4′s and the 5′s”
“Oh, can’t she go both days?”
“Only if we have enough places, but we are currently doing enrollments now and it looks to be a busy year.”
“Oh, well can you just mark that we’d like two days if possible?”
“Yes, but it is entirely dependant on availability.”
I only take issue with this last bit of our conversation.
First of all – there is a 3 year old preschool in town?? Since when? If I had known she probably would have been going there one day a week rather than me forking out for the long daycare for the past 6 months! (EDIT: I’ve since been informed that had I known it would not matter, nor saved my stingy ass any money. Even 3yo Preschool is booked out).
Second of all – only one day a week for preschool, the year before she goes to big school? How is one day a week meant to prepare a child for a full 5 day week? Thinking about it, most of the preschool aged children I have known in town have only gone one day – so I’m not entirely sure why I expected two.
And finally – how many people in this town popped out a baby in 2008/2009? Seriously! You all should have kept your legs shut!
So I looked around. In the phone book. And saw a few preschool options in towns close by. So I called one that ha already been recommended to me. I rang. The woman was efficient. Happy, but not chirpy nor delirious. Informative. And patient with all my questions.
She’s even sent me out an information pack and invited me to “drop in” at ANY TIME.
Which suggests to me her efficiency and pleasantness is not due to general drunkenness nor to tying the children up in the back room.
Score!
Oh I hear you! I nearly poked myself in the eye with my pen.. and that was just getting Emily into daycare.
The thought of preschool breaks me into a cold sweat.
Good luck!
Loz recently posted..Hello, Friday.
Oh Loz, it’s foul. I am wondering if I should give up and home school!
Daisy recently posted..Sometimes I wish I was a local…
The first lady I think was very rude. The second place you talked to sounds much better. But can I ask you a question. If she is already in child care why do you want to move her to a preschool?
In my experience in the industry a good child care is just as good if not better then a preschool. To me they are the same thing. You might pay a little bit less and they wont have any babies around. It is all up to you though don’t think I’m judging you.
My kids never went to a preschool they were always at a child care centre. They still learnt how to write their name and say the alphabet and count etc before school.
Salz recently posted..Child care: Separation anxiety
Hi Salz, the second lady WAS much nicer! To be honest Salz, I simply can’t afford to have Roo in childcare for 2-3 days a week. It’s $80 a day, I don’t work so I get no rebate, and our child care benefit is only enough that it would be costing me $180 out of pocket per week to send Roo to preschool at childcare for 3 days, and $100 a week for 2. It’s just not in our budget. The other preschool is only $30 a day which more than halves our costs per day, and per week for preschool will only add an extra $10 to what we are paying now for one day at the childcare.
I’m also no longer happy with the childcare Roo is attending and am considering pulling her out for the rest of this year, and then starting preschool afresh next year.
A few things really
Daisy recently posted..Sometimes I wish I was a local…
I have accepted that I will always be a ring in – married a local boy, popped out 3 kids, but not totally accepted because I don’t understand who everyone is related to everyone else. We only have 1 local preschool, so there is no choice anyway. Luckily there are spaces available always – its only 50 minutes from you Daisy!!
Jo @Countrylifeexperiment recently posted..My Small Boy
Haha! We are looking at Bunyip preschool in Harden, Jo! I only hear amazing things about it and they were so wonderful and informative when I rang! Sent me out a big info pack and all! Maybe on your days off I’ll have to just keep driving until I get to yours for a cuppa!
Daisy recently posted..Sometimes I wish I was a local…
Fortunately, I live in a city where there are numerous preschools to choose for my daughter. So, I choose Montessori school for my preschool kid and I am quite busy right now supporting my daughter at school.
Eva Haley recently posted..Get The Glowing Smile You Have Dreamed Of
I don’t know if I can manage the preschool idea, it scares me a little. But I am wishing you all the best.
Jenna Grimes recently posted..kimkardashiantapenews.com
God you make me giggle because this is all so familiar. “Hostile is the worst – I don’t want to send my child somewhere for her to be yelled at, ignored or spoken to sarcastically. That’s what she has me for.” Love you
Hope you find a place that works for you both x
Nee recently posted..Random is how I roll
Well, Nee, it’s true!
I actually feel terrible – I went away overnight on Friday, and got back yesterday afternoon. And now because I stayed up late studying and am tired and hormonal, I’ve spent most of my day yelling at the poor child to turn her ears on and bloody listen – when really she’s just tuning out my grating yelly voice! THAT’s why she needs a non-hostile preschool!
I think Bunyip is looking like the go! It’s private and will cost more than the public school, and will be a bit of a drive for me, but one day is not enough and by all accounts it’s beautiful. And will also only cost me $10 more per week for 3 days than it does to send her to childcare for one day currently!
Daisy recently posted..Sometimes I wish I was a local…
It must have been a complicated process, but luckily, you’ve found the right one! Is it far away from your town? Sometimes it could be really worth for the transportation because of the better education. My son goes to the grammar school 20minutes away from our city. But we’ve decided to do this because of the better teachers and high.tech equipment which is necessary to the great teaching, I think.
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