Ruth Hein

To say that I was apprehensive about sending my daughter to preschool would be a gross understatement. She had always been at home with me, from birth. Exactly five nights of her 3-year-old life we’ve been apart. Before starting preschool, all of her days were spent at home with me.

She was always a child who was very cautious, and very much a loner. Even at playdates with children she’d known since she was a month old, she would never want to join in, preferring to sit on my lap while I chatted with the adults, or play on her own. To add to the worry, she was starting mid-year, the new kid amongst a group that had been together for four months.

That first day dropping her off, I kept a stiff upper lip till she was inside, and then we drove around the entire 3 hours, too anxious to go home. We picked her up, and she threw a fit about leaving the playground. The next day she understood she would get to come back to the playground, and so there was less drama. We were thinking this preschool gig was a pretty good deal.

The thing that floored me though, was that weekend. We had friends over to play. I expected her to hide upstairs once they got there, or come sit on my lap, the usual shy girl who was the compete opposite of the bright, bubbly child she was with her father and I. Instead, she waited at the window for them to arrive, opened the door for them, and greeted them by name. “Hi Mia, hi Ezra, want to come play in my room?” Their mom and I looked at each other with wide eyes.

In the next five months her father and I watched her blossom, learning to write her name with remarkable clarity, bringing home pictures, songs, and stories to tell us. Initially I worried that all the money we were spending was silly, that a cheaper school would be just as good. After having her there for 5 short months I can’t express enough how worth it the care, creativity, and respect for my child as a person has been.

We are moving out of the Rapid City area in a few days, and I can only hope that we can find a school in our new town as wonderful as Children’s House is. Her teachers provided her with the exact right amount of warmth, caring, respect and challenge for her to thrive and grow, and also helped me to grow as a parent. I cannot say enough wonderful things about them, or how grateful I am for all they’ve given my daughter.

– Ruth Hein, mother of Leah Hein