Mind the words...

At the moment we are fighting to get Miss L a place in kindy. I can't say anything more as we are going through the system and trying so hard to make it work. In the meantime it's stress central here. The house we sold to move to the schools area has just gone unconditional. This means packing, cleaning, gardening and getting ready to go. All while managing Miss A's anxiety and having Miss L attached to me.

This whole dispute process has been making me feel physically ill. I am not sleeping at the moment, I toss and turn at night. I spend hours reading documents and policies and thinking of all the possibilities. Miss L would not cope academically if she missed a year of school. It sickens me to think of her starting full time pre primary with no school experience and with the school knowing nothing about her. After seeing Miss A struggle in kindy and how long it took for the school to listen to me and see who she really is it hammers it home to me the importance of that year. Nevermind that Andrew and I are both teachers and we know what the purpose of kindy is and how hard it is for kids to adjust to part time school. I have taught kids who for 1 reason or another have missed kindy and the difference between them and the other kids is huge. Socially, emotionally, academically they miss out on a lot.

I honestly thought that we would never come to this point. That in this day and age a school would try it's hardest to allow every child to attend. To allow every child the best possible start......

To see the reactions of those around me though has been the most interesting. I am the edge of my threshold and I have been trying so hard not to take things personally but some people....
saying if I push for L to have a place am I taking another childs spot
that a year off isn't that big a deal
oh well you missed out

People need to remember to mind their words. To think of the impact of their words before they say them. I'm having to bite my tongue and not say how I feel. In the meantime I'm reminded by 1 or 2 occasional comments that there are nice people that care, they too are outraged at the thought of Miss L missing out. Especially when we uprooted our life to make it possible.