Milosh asks me this question almost every evening. He has no clue how the days and nights etc work - when kids go for a nap - I don't think they know if they will wake up next day or just in a few hours. Day light in late evenings throws him off and he refuses to sleep. Weekend throws him off - so poor kids they have no idea (for a long time) what time/ day/ month it is. Imagine leading your life without knowing that! We as grown ups will probably freak out in minutes. To me this indicates how open these little people are - and naturally accommodating of every moment and generally open to all possibilities. But also helpless!
When he was younger he could not complaint - so now I am kind of glad I know what's going on in his mind. Even if he complains when coming out of the bed that he doesn't want to wake up -and doesn't want to go to school, I feel good that I know :) Now I can make informed (but carefully planned) exceptions. Usually we can trick him into feeling happy pretty soon - lets see who brushes teeth first, who goes downstairs first, lets surprise daddy by getting dressed up before him etc etc. He is usually normal by the time he leaves.
And his school is really nice, the teachers are good, he has made good friends he looks forward to seeing.
But on occasion he does tell me on a serious note - "Mommy, I don't want to go to school everyday" - and I always think to myself - thats completely fair. Its really good that he is very much in touch with exactly what he wants/ needs. He likes his school - just doesn't want to go everyday. I would love to be able to design a world that accommodated or rather ran on our different moods and feelings; instead of timed schedules.
The reality is that we are moving in an opposite direction, most definitely in USA. I have had well meaning friends and parents ask - why do kids have spring break, mid-winter break etc? Kind of implying that the schools/ day cares are kind of slacking and not accommodating our work schedules. That to me is pretty sad - because kids need a lot of free flowing time - when they don't have to wake up at a certain time, when they don't have to follow any rules, and in Milosh's words "do whatever I want" If it was not for my sabbatical I would have thought the same - because to working parents breaks mean plan an alternate care - which takes a lot of planning and time. Looking back I feel awful that my son went to day care at the age of 7 months - and I never knew about these breaks. I am so glad that schools have these breaks! And from what I have read Europe's culture is very supportive of more vacations. Rest of the world needs to catch up - we all need to get in tune with ourselves! Just like kids!
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