A Lesson in Herding Cats

Today, I was the Roster Mom at playschool. Because of our craft show on the weekend, there were a few extra kids in the class today. They painted and played and hollered and yelled. It was kid chaos but lots of fun was had. Snack time was interesting but it's what happened after snack time that this post is all about.

Miss Kelly (our teacher) decided it would be good to take the kids to the park. It's early November, there is no snow and it was crazy warm today (like +11 warm - milder than most of our early spring days). So after each child was done their snack, they were allowed to go get their coats and outdoor shoes on and wait to go to the park. Many of the children are quite capable of getting themselves ready like this and those who are, did it.

Parenting lesson #564 - If one kids sees you helping another, every other child suddenly forgets how to dress themselves.

And because it's so mild, many didn't have mitts. But because Miss Kelly has been down this road before, she's armed with half a dozen spare pairs... The downside was some of them were gloves.

Parenting lesson #742 - never, ever try to make a three or four year old wear gloves.

Can you guess how long it takes to get 15 youngsters dressed and out the door to go to the park (including herding them back in after they rush the door when an unsuspecting parent arrives early to pick up their child?)?

Twenty five minutes!

Once we get out the door, it is pandemonium. We are down to 14 kids now but considering there are only four directions (North, South, East and West), they manage to take off if forty different directions.

Parenting Lesson #7 - unless you can run really fast, never try to chase down a fleeing child. They will outrun you.

Once we get to the park it is technically time for school to be over so we're down to seven kids as many of the parents actually made it over to the park from the preschool before we were even half way to the park!

We finally arrived at the park - 45 minutes after we started trying to leave the school! I honestly think it would be easier (and far quieter) to herd cats. I never thought I'd ever use that analogy but I'd never rostered by myself before!

I truly believe that looking after children is the hardest job in the world. Trying to teach them certainly entitles a teacher to sainthood! Children may be our future but their teachers are the real heroes!