Peer Pressure

I discovered something this morning as I was signing Josephine in at her Pre-K classroom. I had been doing it all wrong before. In these past few weeks I had walked into the room, signed her in, gave her hug and said I would see her after class. Her part was then to cling to my leg as if it were the only hold on her precious life. Her teacher would literally pry her fingers from my shirt and I would wave and smile. Josephine would scream. I then waited in the hall for the screaming to stop, which it always did. In the afternoons, her teacher would tell me about the wonderful day Josephine just had. I have no doubt, too, that she did have a good day, because she always had a new song to sing and a story about her friends, her lunch, or her latest artwork.

She was having a great time in Pre-K; but she made a fuss every time I dropped her off. What to do? Peer pressure. This morning, I did the same bad routine: walked into the room, signed her in, gave her hug and said I would see her after class. Then something amazing happened! From across the room, we hear (in a small girlish voice), "Josephine is here. Hey Josephine come do this puzzle with me!" And with that, Josephine was gone. No longer clinging to Mom; she was off playing with her friends. You go girl! So far, I like this peer pressure.