Another school year has come and gone — it all goes by so rapidly. Grandson No. 1, Jon, will be entering junior high next school year. Jon — with his ready smile and his love of life. That time has definitely sped by like lightning. Grandson No. 2, Brady, had a great year at school, and he will already be in third grade next year. He is so smart, so clever and so quick with an 8-year old’s wit.
And then there is Cole, Grandson No. 3. Cole finished his first year of preschool this year. He is 4 and will be in preschool again next year. The changes he made during this first year of “school” were many.
I have gained a real appreciation for the individuals who are in charge of preschool classrooms. Teaching and supervising one group of 19 to 20, 3, 4 and 5 year olds for the morning and then another group of the same age group in the afternoon, I would think, could be a daunting task. The preschool teacher and helpers I came in contact with this year always seemed to have a smile on their face and truly cared about their little charges. My hat definitely comes off for them.
Cole’s preschool had a pretty simple to understand disciplinary approach for these young preschoolers. It was a green, yellow and red program. By that I mean, every student started off on a green light for the day. If the student followed directions, did what was asked, etc. the student stayed on “green.” Moving to yellow meant the student didn’t do some of the things asked of them or talked too much during class. Landing on red, I presume meant the child was disruptive and out-of-control.
Green, yellow and red. Simple for a preschooler to understand. Most days, as my husband or I picked Cole up from school, we would ask him if he stayed on green for the day. Most times he would say yes. Occasionally, he would say the whole class got moved to yellow. Oops, a difficult day for the preschool teacher. Thankfully, we never experienced red.
When I think about this simple manner of behavior control, I wonder what it would be like if we all lived our lives on the green, yellow, red scale?
We all start the day on green. Green for go — go to work, go to school, go to wherever it is you need to be. Do your job; take care of your home; take care of your family; do your homework; do what you need to do. Be kind to those you meet; play fair; no cheating; no bullying; no hurting others. If you live your life that way, you are on green forever.
If you don’t go do your job — whatever that may be, you don’t care for your family, you lie, you cheat, you are a bully, you definitely move to yellow. Not sure what kind of penalty there would be, but in my perfect world, just the idea that you were on “yellow” would be enough. I know, I know, I am making up my own dream world — it works in preschool.
What moves you to red? All the crimes we read in the newspapers and all the things we hear on television. The horrendous murders of innocent people, the crimes that are committed against children, the injustice suffered by many. Those will all move you to red. Once again, I’m not sure what the penalty would be at the red zone, probably as it is today — incarceration. It would be a perfect world if your own conscience would be enough to penalize you for your “red” activities. My dream world is far-fetched for sure.
I would love to live in my make believe green, yellow and red world. I like to think I live my life in the green but I think my green slips to the pale side at the minimum and possibly into the yellow on occasion. I try. I try to stay in the green, but it’s not always easy. Sometimes my temper gets the better of me. I hate to admit that, but it is true.
I heard a preschooler’s mother say to her young son one day toward the end of the school year, “Could we try to stay in the green today?”
A good goal to live by, don’t you think?
Nita Wyatt of Wyanet can be reached at wyattnm1950@yahoo.com.