Parenting | After the Preschool Years

by Kirsten Nilsen, posted on January 31st, 2013 in Parenting

preschool-graduation

I stayed up late Sunday night, baking sugar cookies and frosting them with icy blue frosting & snowflake sprinkles. What are you doing? My husband asked. I thought you said you’d figured out that the four year olds are just as happy with some Chips Ahoy.

But it’s my last time, I said, simply.

The last time my name was on the roster for preschool snack – January’s Winter Party.

My youngest didn’t ask for snowflake sprinkles. She shrugged when I showed her the blue frosting. Yet 11 pm found me pulling cookies out of the oven, and midnight found me checking if the royal icing had hardened.

The lasts are coming hard and fast as she finishes preschool – it’s a post for another time. (A time when I have some Xanax on board, I’m thinking.) But more than anything I feel like a temp who’s worked her way out of a job.

The whole thing starts just like any temp job: those first few months of frantic Holy Exhaustion Batman WHAT AM I DOING, many more months of muddling through, laughing nervously when others are around and weeping when alone, and then slowly – imperceptibly – it gets easier. It gets a little smoother.

I’ve learned the ropes – I can make a Preschooler-Approved Grilled Cheese ™ in under 3 minutes. My potty training skills are downright impressive. (Pausing for a moment here to smooth eyebrows modestly.) I have memorized all the lines to Madeline, Where the Wild Things Are, and Corduroy. I can install a LATCH carseat, I can muster up enough silly to end a tantrum, and I finally learned never to leave the house without wet wipes.

I think my pint-sized employers have been pretty happy with my services. But the gig is coming to an end (they’re no longer pint sized – more like 10 gallon), and I find myself with a resume full of skills not required for the road ahead.

I always knew it was a limited contract. Just seems a shame to walk away when I was getting so good at it.

But like any good temp, the key to the next gig – the one full of early hormones, sports gear and chapter tests – is to show up with enthusiasm, a bit of fake-it-til-you-make-it moxie, and a solid sense of humor. The kind that digs gross-out jokes.

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Comments

12 Responses to “Parenting | After the Preschool Years”

Joya Says:
January 31st, 2013 at 10:50 am

Perfectly said Kirsten.

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Kirsten Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 12:53 pm
thanks Joya – I know you get it. :)

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Jane@Buzzmills Says:
January 31st, 2013 at 11:38 am

Funny to read this …because this very morning I have been thinking about how my daughter is nearly 5!! How did this happen? And how, when I look at her, does she suddenly seem like a little lady and no longer a preschooler…I was thinking about how these last few months are going to be her last few months with the preschool teacher that she has had for three years and truly loves! (thankfully, I don’t have to say goodbye though, since my son has her too…) I was thinking…oh my…this kindergarten thing…that is still months and months away…is going to be really HARD!! Lovely post! Thanks! :)

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Kirsten Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 12:52 pm
Oh it IS going to be hard!! I am already feeling sorry for *myself*, having to say goodbye to her lovely little nursery school! I think for me, the hardest is knowing that the time speeds up with every minute beyond those first few years. Soon we’ll be reaching warp speed.

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Jillian in Italy Says:
January 31st, 2013 at 1:05 pm

Oh I was a blubbering mess when my little ones graduated from nursery school. Luckily it was a sunny day and I could keep my sunglasses on to hide the teary eyes.

Before I had kids I never realised how quickly it all passes. Sounds cliche but it’s so so true. I already miss finding little miniature shoes around the house and crayon marks on my walls.

I have two daughters that will be starting secondary school next year and until now I can’t even think about it. Do high school teachers even let you come into school to prepare an Easter brunch for the class? Or to organise an art project with the kids?

I’m sure there are wonderful aspects of every age but those years of little chubby kids that say the funniest things and look at you with complete and utter adoration really are so wonderful.

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Joya Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 1:11 pm
Jillian- Oh makes my heart ache to think about the phase of silliest things, crayon markings and utter adoration passing by… We (my 7&9 yo too) are all a complete bowl of mush with my 2 year old :)

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Kirsten Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 3:42 pm
if I lived any closer to your 2 yr old Joya I’d be a bowl of mush around him too! He’s just the most precious little guy.

Heart ache is the term, most definitely.

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Kirsten Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 3:43 pm
Oh Jillian it’s just that those secondary school years seem as close as the baby years for me right now (mine are 10, 7 and 5), and I feel caught between the two in a blind panic because I don’t want it to be over, and yet I love all that they’re becoming. WAH!

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Laura C Says:
January 31st, 2013 at 7:33 pm

A potty-trainer could be a lucrative side job. I’d pay for an expert.

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Kirsten Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 9:53 am
oh Laura, AND I’m local. :) Ha. I see a future for me in poop.

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Carla Says:
February 1st, 2013 at 11:03 am

Today is the first day of preschool for my little one and last night I told my husband I needed a new baby stat! I love how you describe it as a temp job, just when you get it dialed it changes! Stressful but never boring! Wishing you so much fun on your new adventure. P.S. those cookies sound fab!

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Betsy Says:
February 5th, 2013 at 10:22 pm

Sniff. I so miss those years, in a way. Things are different now, but still good.

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