How it all started

Currently my 2-year old is at a preschool. Before that he was at home with myself and my husband (as he was working from home) but it was very challenging. At first we stayed in a small flat in town with no garden on the 2nd floor, which was okay when he was a baby but he was very dependent on me which was quite trying for me. I couldn't get much done, my husband was struggling to focus on his work... 

When he turned 6 months we moved to a villa with lots of outdoor space, at this stage he was crawling and he was less frustrated when he started sitting up and moving about. We played in the mud, went for lots and lots of walks in the pram and down to the beach for him to eat a few mouth full of sand. 

Then the terrible 10's left us shocked. He started tantrums at 10 months which was shocking, throwing himself on the floor. It just seemed like he was frustrated. At 11 months he was so happy to take his first steps and start exploring life from a higher eye level. 

When he turned 1 it was time for me to go back in the work force and take my 1-year old to kindergarten. I was happy to have some time on hand to look for job opportunities and thought the move to kindergarten would be good for his social development. All started out good, staff were friendly and giving him loads of attention because he was the youngest in class. We took him to school in September and by December he was home for about 3-4 weeks. Early January he started a new class with kids all his age and they were difficult, crying, struggling to adapt and Eckan also cried what felt like the whole year. 

We were so frustrated, just didn't seem like his teacher was coping, we were stressed because our business wasn't picking up financially, so many things to consider, we had to meet twice with the principal to ask what was going on. They promised things are improving but I just couldn't see it. His teacher didn't seem like she wanted to be there. Eckan wasn't adapting and above all, most days when I came to fetch him they are put in front of a cellphone screen to watch some entertainment so that the teacher has time to catch up on parents messages. 

Being very mindful about screen time and not exposing our little one to it, I was furious. We had a meeting with 3 teachers and the head to discuss this matter, to which they replied they do use it to help the teacher get other things done but they will make a plan to do less screen time. unfortunately we had to make a call, do we give our 2 months notice and then have to move him to another school and have him struggle to adapt there not knowing if they are going to be better, or just stick the year out and hope it gets better, till we can move him the following year. So we decided to stick it out. Not knowing if we made the right decision, still doubting weather it is a good space for him to be in. 

Currently staying in George, having decided to live in the Garden route which is a beautiful part of South Africa to live in but being far away from the grandparent, we started really missing them, after 3 years of staying here we decided to uproot ourselves again and move closer to them. In the process I started feeling more and more that the school does not do enough for Eckan. When I come to fetch him they are just sitting at the table or on the mat, just sitting there... This is 1 or 1 and half ours after they woke up from their nap. They finished eating their snack and are just sitting there. Rarely do I come get him and they are outside playing. 

In this time they also decided to send a video of the teacher showing different animals, playing the sounds and saying the name, those kids looked so bored. She didn't get much reaction from them. This video was the last straw. We decided to take him out a bit earlier, then I will be his kindergarten teacher as I have just been helping out in the shop, my husband can be in the shop and quit his 2 day- job and spend more time online getting more business from there. As we are moving back to Pretoria he was going to have to quit that job anyways. 

Now I'm doing my preparation, working out a schedule, pinterest-ing loads of ideas and activities, collecting recycled goods and buying random stuff. So excited to get back into teaching.