To fellow gan teachers: wwyd?

Posted: Wed, May 16 2012, 12:54 am Post subject: To fellow gan teachers: wwyd?

My 3 yr old dd is starting in an official gan in September, iy"H. It is a huge step up from what she has been used to; WAY more kids, official school setting, etc. In general, she is the type of kid who has a hard time with change. My husband will be be taking her in the mornings and she will be coming back on a car service (another huge change). I am really worried about her, but there is nothing I can do right now to change the situation.

My problem is like this: I run a gan from my own home and I will be starting the same day that she does. From what I understand, it's not "accepted" for the fathers to stay with the girls in the gan for a little bit, since it will be all mothers, etc. I am really torn - on the one hand, I really feel that I need to be there for my daughter and take her on her first day. But on the other hand, I need to be in my own gan.

Is there anyone else who has been in this situation before? Is there any way to work this out? The only thing I can think of is to possible start my own gan a 1/2 hr later so that I can take her in the morning and spend a few minutes with her there. But I don't even know if I can officially do that...
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For every minute of anger, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

I had this year one starting kitah aleph, and one starting gan. Luckily kitah aleph started a few days before Sept. 1st. Gan and mishpachton both started Sept. 1st, but first day of mishpachton for new kids is officially only 8am to 10am, so I took ds right at 7:30 and stayed with him a bit. I think if you are a private gan you can get away with opening at 8 or 8:30 one time, it's for a good reason. The other thing you could do if you want is open one day after gan does, and give back the day somewhere else (work isru chag, a day a chanukah, etc) that would normally be off.
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Lucky Mom to 5
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If you were a working mother, how would you feel about that?

Gold Member Joined: Sep 22 2009 Posts: 1745

I'm a working mom and though I would try to understand you (I also took off when my dd started gan) I would be upset. I think finding a substitute for the first morning is a much better idea. It shows that you are commited and you understand that mothers depend on you.

Gold Member Joined: Sep 22 2009 Posts: 1745

Silver Member Joined: Dec 17 2011 Posts: 594

The woman who's gan I've been sending my kids to ALWAYS starts a day after everyone else for this reason. I never thought twice about it. And yes, the years that I worked full time, I sent my 3 year old to the baby sitter for that day.

Enjoy bringing her to school!

I'm not sure where you live or what your hashkafa is, but where I live, both fathers and mothers are involved with pick-up, drop-off, plays, parties and everything else.

I don't see what the big deal is to have your husband take your older daughter to gan and stay with her those first couple hours.
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Can you discuss your situation with your DD's school and see what they suggest?

Silver Member Joined: May 06 2007 Posts: 718

sorry to go off topic when is the first day of the school year this year? anyone know? I heard it was end of august but didn't hear an actual day...

27th.

Nice that they let the moms stay!

But I don't get the problem with the fathers. It seems far fetched to me. In the morning like 90% of drivers are dads in dd's BY/cheder (less but still enough to be called "the dads' hour" in the evening).
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"You will have many many children and make successful shidduchim beh", rebbetzin Esther Jungreis
"It's all cultural, disagree respectfully", me

hi, I am a playgroup Morah, the first year I started doing a playgroup in my home I had this problem. I started playgroup a half hour late adn the mothers were up in arms bec for a lot of them it was their first day back at work after the summer too, I guess a lot of htem were teachers too and they needed their child tostart playgoup on time.
since then when parents sign up their child, I tell them that my school schedule is very similar to all the schools in town, htere are only a couple of differences,eg I might take off an extra day before pesach and I will have a late start on the first day of school. so now they now, and they can't go crazy with me when it comes to it. I mail my schedule to them mid-July, so they have time to plan for that eventuality. to tell you the truth, the first day of playgroup is very hard on little kids, being away from mommy etc, so to shorten the morning a bit is much nicer for the kids and that is also a good way to justify it to the parents. you should do whatever you feel you have to do OP, it seems like you have everyone's best interests in mind, always remember you can't make everyone happy! just do your best!

Active Poster Joined: Nov 11 2010 Posts: 41

Would it be possible to work out a completely different solution, such as keeping your daughter with you on day 1 and bringing her to her gan on day 2 (as a 3 year old, she wouldn't know the difference.)