The Preschool Picnic

Despite my best efforts to deny it, yesterday was the last day of preschool for Philip for the year. This morning, there were no classes. Instead, students and their families gathered at a city park for an end-of-year picnic.

Philip had a great time even though he had been up since 3:30 am. If he had been better rested, we would have stayed longer to let him enjoy playing in the tot lot, making bubbles, jumping in the bounce house and hanging out with his classmates, teachers and other staff.

My mom joined us, which was a good thing since she was able to take more pictures than me. I won’t post all of the pictures here. Instead, I’ve selected one that represents all of the progress Philip has made since he began preschool almost two years ago.

Back then, he cried at the dolls. He cried when they took him to the bookmobile. He cried when they tried to get him to wash his hands. He cried any time he encountered something new.

Gradually, gently, at both home and at preschool, we have been working on reducing Philip’s anxiety in new situations. While a bit of caution is certainly valuable, we all want to make sure that Philip experiences and interacts with a variety of activities, places and things. I just want him to have the opportunity to choose not to do something again rather than having fear prevent him from missing out on experiences he might enjoy.

That’s why, when Philip had the opportunity to look at and pet a variety of farm animals brought to the park by the local FFA (Future Farmer’s of America), we seized it. And when one of the students asked him, “Do you want to sit on the donkey?”, we let him try.

And he didn’t cry.

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No tears over at the Yeah Write Weekend Moonshine Grid either. Stop by to read or link up!