Kita

We decided that Tim just isn't having enough stimulation flying from one continent to the next and this Tuesday he started going to kindergarten. The way it works here is that there is an introductory period where a parent comes along and basically guides the child through this initial time. Depending on how well the child is adjusting it can take anywhere between 3 days to a couple of weeks.

Tim and I have been going there for about an hour at a stretch and so far so good... his adjustment that is. There are unfortunately some things that I am not so happy about. Namely that they have a policy of going outside every day despite the weather. Every group of kids - even the smallest ones. Sounds fantastic, right? Except that there are 3 teachers for 17 kids/babies in Timmy's group, and all these kids have to be dressed... this process usually takes at least 15 to 20 minutes, given that it's still cold outside now... involving almost every child crying and being stressed and the teachers, too. Then they go outside for about 20 mins... and return and the undressing process takes almost as long. So I don't really see the point.

But mainly it's the Russian teacher that really annoys me. In Tim's group (they're called the Blackberries - all groups have berry names) there are two German teachers and one Russian one. The German ones are fine and one of them is in charge of his introductory period. Unfortunately the Russian one is just a bit too Russian, in the worst possible way. She brings with her all those superstitions that so many people there seem to have. For example she was telling me of a boy in the group whose teeth are black and rotting. "That's because his mother breastfed him until he was 1.5 years old". I couldn't help but reply that I believe that to be not true... but she insisted that breastfeeding for so long ruins the child's teeth and that there is it's own time for everything. She also lectured me on the fact that I have no shoes for Tim and don't drag him around trying to force him to walk (he just started crawling for crying out loud!), which is something she does with all the small babies. She believes that parents have to be constantly alert as to what the child might be capable of and push him to do it... otherwise children will be doomed and behind in their development. With utter horror she told me of a "catastrophe" that is a 1.5 year old boy who _just_ began to walk. His parents apparently really missed their chance with him. And like all good Russian teachers she yells at the kids for doing (what she considers to be) naughty things and tells them off inconsistently about this or that. For instance she was yelling at one of the little girls for digging sand out of the sandpit and putting it on the ground outside... "sand belongs in the sandpit - how many times do I have to tell you that!!! If you do it again I'll take away your shovel!". The little girl then went to sit in the sandpit and was observing the world around quietly. "Don't SIT in the sandpit, you'll get cold!!! Stand up - how many times do I have to tell you that!!!" ... and so on and so forth.

Needless to say I'm not really thrilled about her and the prospect of Timmy being around her. However we have offers from another two kindergartens for a spot starting around August-October, so this might just have to be a temporary solution. We'll have to see how he is doing... if it gets too bad, then we'll just take him out of it now and sort something else out until August. He himself doesn't seem to mind it too much though. He is very curious about the toys and things that they have there and is completely oblivious to being the centre of attention as all the other kiddies are very curious about the newbie. One older (ie. around 2 years old) boy keeps coming up to Tim, touching him on the head and saying "ляля" (baby) :) In fact today I left Timmy by himself for two minutes with the German teacher (it's part of this whole introductory period, where the parent says goodbye and leaves for increasing amounts of time and the child gets used to the new environment on their own) and he was pretty happy... I don't even think he noticed I was gone :) I almost feel that it won't be too long that he'll be leaving the nest *sobs*