Originally Posted by nannyde:
I would just sit them down and tell them that you are going to suspend ANY educational activities for him for at least one month and just focus on behavior. He doesn't need abc's and 123's. He doesn't need crafts.
He needs to BEHAVE
That's the only thing I would work on with him and I would dedicate my every second to it. I would have him ONLY with the babies for at least a month. He's showing you that is where he NEEDS to be. I would have him EARN his way into the big kid stuff and it would be in ten minute increments... then back to the littles.
What the parents want is exactly the opposite of what he needs. Tell them the truth. Tell them that he has significant delays in compassion, understanding of other children, his "place" in the group, his ability to self entertain, his ability to manage his time without creating constant chaos.
If he is to stay that will be what you do with him. Take it or leave.
We need to stop mollycoddling this generation of parents. It's time to make friends with the truth whether they are paying money or not... they need truth.
Agree with all this! Its only 2 hours a day (out of 8 awake hours) that they are separated by age, he does need to EARN Big Kids Time. The sister is half the problem too though. She cries for him when he's out of the room. She has had to CIO at nap, and she has accepted that she can't nap with the Bigs. She craves him as much as she annoys him. Like Cat said, he has been 'raised' (in his daycare life) to be separated ALL THE TIME by age. She went to the toddler room, he went to the preschool room and they see ya later at pick-up. Its not that they are bad kids. They are just confused. 'School' is not the same here. They will likely need a lot loooooonger adjustment period. Yeah dealing with the parents is not going to be easy. They want DCB reading. And doing math. Seems like the kids least interested in ABC and 123's have the parents that want LOTS of "education". That's what Big Kids Time is for. Its not alllll daaaaay looooong.