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Kindergarten woes

Poor Brynja is having a rough time adjusting to the kindergarten life. After her three very successful years at pre-school, we didn’t anticipate her having many difficulties with the new school, and indeed, she had been looking forward excitedly to the new milieu for a good many months before she started at “the big school” a little more than a month ago. Change is always hard, of course, but after just a couple of weeks we realized that what she was facing was more than the normal growing pains.

The crux of the problem, I think, is a serious personality conflict between her and her teacher. Readers who know our girl are already aware that she has no little amount of stubbornness in her, and I’ll be the first to admit that it takes a special sort of finesse sometimes to get her to go along with things. Her teacher, for whatever reason, is either unable or unwilling (or perhaps some combination of these) to employ that finesse, and the result has been an unhappy and uneasy six-year-old.

According to the prevailing system here in Sweden–which I normally think is a good one–she’ll have the same teacher for three years, which means that this isn’t just something to be got through for a short time. Two or three weeks ago we approached with the principal the idea of moving Brynja to a different classroom with a teacher we’re familiar with and are confident would be a much better fit, but so far we’ve been met with resistance. I talked with the teacher early last week and we traded some ideas about how we might fix the situation, but I am not at all convinced that it can be fixed to all of our satisfaction.

Not getting the answers I wanted, I turned things over to Olof, who has arranged to meet with the teacher face-to-face this coming week. I expect he’ll be more successful than I’ve been, being both a native Swede and a man. (I hate that the world works this way, but I can’t deny that it does.) Further, that stubborn streak in Brynja comes directly from him, and I’ve yet to meet the person who’s managed to sway him once he’s got his back up about something. Here’s hoping, then, that once he’s got to work here, Brynja’s days in that classroom will be numbered.

4 thoughts on “Kindergarten woes

  1. Go, Olof, go. I can still remember the miserable year I spent in third grade with a teacher with whom I could never make a personal connection. Nothing horrible, but no joy or a feeling of belonging that year. Luckily, it was the only time that ever happened (and I thought a year was a long time!). A year is a long time when you are that young. Three years is an eternity. I hope this gets nipped in the bud. Keep us posted.

  2. Oops!

    We have switched teachers and so far, he’s happier. We still have issues with him not wanting to follow directions, but he like his new teacher much better. It was a positive change.

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