This American mother is incensed that her daughter must follow the expectations of tidiness at nursery school. She refuses to cooperate with the preschool by picking up her child in accordance with their regulations, preferring instead to take away from other children’s learning experiences whenever it suits her own schedule.
In utter exasperation, a mother from the United States posted her story to Reddit about why she deems it ludicrous that her two-year-old daughter must follow suit with all the other kids and clean up after herself. The teacher instructed the little girl to “finish cleaning up whatever she was playing with” before departing with her mother from the preschool.
Recently, the mother was in a hurry and hurriedly collected her daughter from school without assisting her with tidying up after herself. This displeased teacher Sasha, had expected that this mom would help her kid tidy up like every other student in their class.
After Mom hastily left the nursery school with her two-year-old daughter, Sasha sent a text that simply said: “poor planning doesn’t mean she should break the rules.” Much to Mom’s surprise, she was issued a “verbal warning” for her daughter’s failure to comply with the same standards of cleanliness as other students at school.
Mom was firm in her opinion that it was “absurd” for her daughter to have to clean up after herself prior to departing school. Reddit dwellers, however, were left divided as to whether or not mom had done the right thing by not assisting her youngster with tidying up at school.
Mom said, “My 2-year-old daughter has been in home daycare for a few months now. The teacher, Sasha, is very nice. I am normally all for my daughter cleaning her own messes. However, I find when I arrived, Sasha expects my daughter to finish cleaning up whatever she was playing with. Which again would be fine, but it delays us getting out the door and heading home. Sometimes we have plans, etc.
“I started texting Sasha when I was so many minutes away, asking her to get my daughter ready, and that seemed to work. My daughter would be in her jacket and reading a book, easy to put away vs. a huge duplo project or similar.”
Mom continued, “We had a lot to do this afternoon, and I was running behind because I had car trouble. When I arrived, my daughter and some friends were in the middle of cleaning up a big mess. I told my daughter that we had to go and to get her coat. Sasha said she needed to finish cleaning up her part. I said, any other day, sure, but I am running late, and we cannot miss this appointment. Sasha tried arguing that the kids need to learn responsibility, and I flat-out said no. I grabbed my daughter, put her coat on, and left.”
Mother asserted, “I pointed out this is not in the contract, and I can bring my child home whenever I need want. She accused me of undermining her authority. I was given “a verbal warning” which I found ridiculous.”
Is it important for the child to tidy up after they finish playing?
