School Withdrawal Syndrome

Mondays are usually for me to rejuvenate after a busy weekend, and because Joey goes to school on Mondays as well, it’s also a day I spend time with Baby Jayne and bond with her. I always look forward to Mondays.

But yesterday did not go as planned.

JOEY REFUSED TO GO TO SCHOOL. (sigh)

Sometimes she may whine about going to school early in the morning, but she never went to the extent of crying & screaming and refused to get into the car. Perhaps it was because she knew I was going to be at home with Baby Jayne, and she didn’t want to miss out the fun. After much toggling and pulling at the car, I figured there was no way I could get her to go to school. And, I was feeling like a very cruel mother for making her go to school in that unwilling state when I was going to be at home. So I relented.

Most of the time, I prefer Joey to go to school because it’s a very disciplined lifestyle in school. She eats her meals on time, exercises, learns new things and take a solid 2.5 hour nap. When she’s at home, all she does is watch TV. :( But of course, when she’s at home, she’s more relaxed and can take long baths with her toys. And I mean L-O-N-G  B-A-T-H-S.

 

Although it was tiring to take care of 2 kids on my off day, it also feels good to spend time with them. Joey takes good care of Jayne, I tell you. I can trust Joey to help babysit Jayne while I take a quick shower and she would sing and play with her, or offer her a teether when she whines. When I need to settle some urgent work on my laptop, she helps me with Jayne so that I can concentrate on my work for at least 15 minutes. My 3yo is becoming a very good helper at home and I’m really thankful to God for that. :)

Back to the topic at hand, while it’s alright for Joey to miss school at pre-school stage, I wonder if she will do the same thing too when she reaches Primary School? I have friends whose kids are in Primary School and I’ve witnessed how they would make their kids go to school even if they are slightly feeling unwell just so that they don’t miss any lessons in school and have difficulty catching up. (Yes, it’s a really scary era now.)

I remember I love going to school when I was young. I even wrote down ‘studying’ as one of my hobbies long, long ago……… =P I pray and hope my girls will inherit my good genes in that area!