Day 397: Colin

So my earlier suspicions have proven to be true. Every class has at least one 'Problem Child', and I've discovered mine. And in the Parrots class that's Colin, just as I had predicted.

He's not quite on the scale like Screaming Eugene or Angry Hyper Hae Keun was last year, but he's certainly challenging enough. Besides having serious issues with authority (which, by the way, how is that even possible at this age? He's only five and already wants to fight 'the man' - ie: ME - and try and buck the system with that relentlessly eternal question we all hate to hear in million-time successions, - "why") but he's an instigator with the other children. Any and all spats that arise in class *always* have Colin as one of the two parties involved.

His favourite target is Danny, who in theory couldn't be a more perfect bullseye for him to go after because Danny enjoys reporting every single little miniscule mishap to his anal-rententive and obsessive-coddler mother. Poor Sonya has been buried a barrage of phone calls from Danny's parents who are convinced that Colin is out to kill their son. Not that Colin is an a heavenly angel, and I certainly don't condone this behaviour and in fact feel very frustrated by it, but come on, this is bound to happen with kids. You gotta expect it a little and have some patience while kids learn how to form more friendly relationships at school. And Danny isn't exactly innocent either - he seems almost as magnetically drawn to pushing Colin as vice-versa.

So class time has become a balance of keeping the two boys relatively separated, dealing with the million and one little cries for help that inevitably arise - Scott Teacher to the rescue! - and maintaining peace and balance in ParrotLand, all while trying to teach twelve children their ABC's and how to write. And also all the while keeping up with Poly's sometimes (read: often) ridiculously fast-paced learning schedule cause "we're an intensive school", making sure the kids are still having fun cause hey they're still kids right?, and looking sharp, collected, and large-and-in-charge for the school directors. Phew!

Who knew that Preschool could have so many politics involved?