Officals and Valentine's Day showers!

Once again, I had a week of frustration - wait no, irritation.  BUT, at the same time.. I got smothered by love all at the same time.  An interesting balance.

Irritation..
Like any licensed childcare program, twice a year a licensing officer will make a couple of inspections.  One announced, one unannouced.  I'm on very good terms with our officer so when she visits, there really is never a problem.  Yesterday, she came for our annouced.  I stayed at work late the day before - making sure everything was ready "appearence-wise", I took paperwork home so everything was completed, and we spent our lunch "setting up".  Never to say we are never ever any of those things.  We are.  I just like to go the extra step to continue having that good reputation. 

So, she arrives on time and after some small chit-chat, she begins her inspection.  Right away its the paperwork aspect and eventually followed by observations.  After about an hour, it's time to go over everything and how the visit went overall.  When to make a long story short, everything is great EXCEPT we get to non compliances for the stupidest mistakes and I'm furious.  I won't go into detail on what exactly they were, but both were out of my hands and I think because they were things that should  be expected to be cared for by others, it wasn't.  I know it doesn't reflect me personally or the classroom, but I still feel responsible and still feel irriated.  They are stupid, stupid, silly mistakes that should have never been mistakes to begin with and end as 'non-compliances'. 

Both issues are being dealt with now.  But after this experience, it made me think about to a situation a former boss of mine was in a few years ago.  At a daycare I use to work at, it was a similar scene: licensing visit, on good terms, everything looked great and was great, anndddd we get two non compliances for staff not signing themselves in and some other small issue that I can't recall right now.  After she (the licensing officer) left, our boss wasn't mad but irriatated to the grill because they were mistakes that should have never happened.  She kept saying how irritating it was to mess up on something so minor and no one seemed to understand why she was feeling the way she was.  To us, it didn't feel like it was a huge deal.  When really, it was as it reflected on who took more pride in their workplace and placed immense amount of hours into prepartion and losing it all in a matter of 30 seconds.  Years later and being in the same predictament, I know exactly why she felt the way she did. 

MAN!

You really do need to check and do everything yourself nowadays.  Some of you may say it's a bad attitude to have, but when you get stuck in the same boat, you'll know what I'm talking about.

"Will you be my Valentine Ms. Jenn?"
Of course (and moving on to a more positive story) I have to mention Valentine's Day this week.  As much as I like to complain how commercialized V-Day is, I love it.  I love how it shines light on something that can go unnoticed for months on end.  From a teacher's perspective, it's also one of the most fun educational experiences to plan for.  For example, my preschoolers discussed the concept of love and shared who and why we love who we do.  I told them if they couldn't figure out why they loved someone, that it was okay to say, "just because".  A handful used that answer and all genuinely meant it.  Hell, I love certain people and can't even give you a reason why.  I just do.  So, if feel that way, I'm sure a four year old does too.  We also learned about the point of Valentine giving and why some people do it.  Also, during these special days, I like to throw out the title of the holiday/special day and ask what they think of first when they hear it.  So, that was done with Valentine's Day and wow, the response was mind-blowing.  Hearts, baking Valentine cookies, cinnamon, pink and red stuffies, were just some of the answers.

And of course, each class had a V-Day party where they brought Valentines and treats for their friends.

My Valentine "mailbag"

By the end of each class, I was showered with Spiderman, My Little Pony, Cars, Tinkerbell, Disney Princesses, and Curious George valentines and even though they will be just recycled, the appreciation of getting the "Teacher" card is there.  But some Valentine gifts truly stood out for me in addition to the Hershey kisses and Lindt red-foiled hearts.  The ones that do get mention, were homemade - the best kind of gift anyone could receive, young and old.  I whole-heartedly love them because not only did they remind me as to why I do my job, but also how much I feel appreciated.

Which one gets first place?  This one:

How super sweet is this?  The student who gave one to me and my assistant worked on this with his mom.  It was simply gluing on scraps of tissue paper and putting on a glaze to hold it all together.  Mom vouched that he did 95% of the work which is amazing for this kind of final product.  What a great idea this would be for a Mother's Day craft?!  Here's a closer look of the tissue paper:

I've decided this is going to be my "preschool" vase at work.  As spring comes around (eventually), I know this will be housing lots of dandelions :)

Runner Up: The Ultimate Homemade Valentine!

"Happy Heart Day".. Love, love, love.

The next one is amazing.  The concep,t and as I was told by the three year old, that this is a tin full of love.  Inside, he put a 'Happy Feet' valentine.  Underneath that, he had his Mom write down reasons "why he likes Ms. Jenn" on a heart.  The final heart is a note of appreciation from his parents. 

<3!!

We even had a student (age three) give us (my assistant and I), each a bouquet of flowers with the same statement "You're wonderful!". 

After all these years of working with children, I have never been so spoiled on Valentine's Day.  They really knew how to warm their preschool teacher's heart this year.  And to be honest, I am by no-means bragging.  I hope your Valentine's Day was just as memorable and full of love!  Now, I know there are those of you out there who bash the day, complain how commericialized it is, and it's an excuse for girls to demand romance from their boyfriends.  But, don't tell me this story didn't melt your heart and make you appreciate this "commercial" holiday from a kidlet perspective as you know that when they tell you "I love you", they mean it.  And you do too. 

P.S These were the roses MY forever Valentine gave me.  I figured he was worth mentioning ;)