Where’s Your Bucket

After four days of being away from our preschool family we had a wide range of social experiences today . We had some that were on top of things.

“ Ms Debbie One of my friends needs to go to the calm down center. Her face is red. She seems frustrated and her lips are going like this .”

” I am going to sit here and calm down. I am sad.”

” She said she isn’t my friend anymore. I’m playing with someone else. ”

We had some that struggled .

“You’re a cry baby.”

” You can’t play with us. I am not your friend.”

” You’re a doodie head.”

” That’s an ugly picture.”

We praised the children that were on the top and we supported the ones on the struggle bus.  In neither scenarios did we have melt downs or hitting.  That’s HUGE in the preschool world. That tells me that good, bad and ugly they are not perfect but they are learning to manage whatever comes their way.

To continue the discussion about our emotions and our words we read the book ” The Bucket Filler ” again.   I think they have a very good sense of the idea behind this book.  If you say or do hurtful things you are dipping into a bucket.  If you say or do things that make someone smile you are filling someones bucket.  You can never ever fill your bucket by emptying someone else’s bucket . You CAN FILL your OWN bucket by helping to fill SOMEONE else’s bucket.

So many times we hear kindergarten readiness talk.

Can your child write his name ? Can your child count to 20?   Does your child know all his ABC’s and the sound they make?

Those are NOT real markers of kindergarten readiness.  The REAL READINESS is the BIG stuff like being able to self regulate and  filling buckets.  It doesn’t matter in a kindergarten classroom if a child can say their ABC’s and write their name if they can’t navigate relationships between friends and the adults in their room.

Is your child kindergarten ready ? What markers are you using ?