One Of My Biggest Parenting Lessons Learned To Date...

My friends, I have spent the entire weekend feeling like a crappy parent...

Ollie goes to a four hour Child's Day out Program Monday-Thursday. On Monday and Wednesdays he goes to one church and then to a different church on Tuesday and Thursdays; the same teachers travel between the schools. So even though he is in a different place, the teachers are the same.



Everything has been going great for the past year with him at the schools. He loves his teachers, his friends and the curriculum; from coloring, arts and crafts and even now learning to read and write!  However, over the last month, red flags have been going up all over the place at one of the schools.

When I pick him up from one school, he is happy, excited to show me his artwork, and always comes home with an empty lunchbox. Lately, at the other school, however, it's the complete opposite. He's not nearly as happy, barely gets excited about showing me his art and his lunch is barely touched.

In my heart, I just knew something was not right.

Then, last week, after a not so great Tuesday, my mother's instinct was RAGING!  I talked with him, about the school and he mentioned that a teacher was not very nice to him. This teacher, is also not very nice to me. She tells me to be harder on him, and not to let him get away with being a terror.

The thing is, part of why I like him going to school is so someone else can be the asshole!  Ollie is a handful. He's a toddler. A wild three year old toddler, and some days I feel like I am constantly having to scold him or put him in time-out. It's nice to have someone else on him to behave.

So... I let it go...

Then, on Thursday night, I look up his nose and see blood. Lots of it. Clearly, he's had a bloody nose... that no one told me about!  I asked him what happened, and he said he fell on the playground.

That was it for me. My mother's instinct was so wild inside, my heart was breaking.  I should have listened to it sooner. I should have trusted myself and my son, before the school.

After a weekend of agonizing about being a horrible mother for not addressing my concerns sooner, I called the director of Ollie's program first thing Monday morning.

I told her about my concerns and that I knew in my heart something was going on over there, and I could not send my son back.

She told me that she too noticed an issue with Ollie and one of the teachers, and had spoken to the teacher about it. She apologized that clearly she wasn't getting through to the teacher, and would remove her from Ollie's class immediately... and then some. (Each class has two teachers and one helper.)

The school really is amazing, and this is the first issue we have had, so, I am going to trust the director to fix the issue. I'm giving it to the end of this week to see things back to normal.

The moral of the story: This Mother's instinct stuff is VERY REAL!

I've learned my lesson. When my Mother's Instinct flag goes up, I will listen to it IMMEDIATELY!

I feel awful for letting the issue go on so long. My child deserves better.

We have a long road of school ahead of us, so in a way, I'm glad I learned this lesson now.  Never again will I let flags go up over school or anything else without addressing them immediately.

My friends, if you learn anything from this blog, I hope it's to trust your parent instinct, because it is very real.






April is an award-winning writer and blogger. Her work has been published in over ten countries and four languages. From books to newspapers, to print/online magazines and everything in between, you can find her work. For more on April, Visit AprilMcCormick.com