Reminds me of when DS at nearly 4 finally had a playdate with a compatible child. DS said, "He understood me. He stopped when I asked him to" in a relieved and slightly awed voice, as if this was very unexpected in a child. Poor kid.
Today we had a great start to our conversation about switching preschools... not...I conversationally mentioned to DS on the way home from preschool today that I'd been visiting other preschools the last couple weeks to see if there are any others that look interesting: he immediately burst into tears and abruptly changed the subject, refusing to talk about it further. He was so upset I still haven't found out if maybe he misunderstood my comment -- for example it could have been interpreted as me meaning we'd now send him to additional hours of preschool somewhere else. Or maybe he's just more unhappy about the current preschool than I realized. Or maybe he is upset about the general idea of changing schools even though I didn't get to that.
Sigh. Will give it a day and try again.
Polly
PS. Good comment kickball about not always leaving these big decisions up to the child. I agree that many times DS does not realize what details of an experience are making him upset or happy or which things have value, ie that he may not recognize challenge makes him happy and calm and that prolonged sitting without a intellectual focus makes him tense. My goal is to somehow ensure a smooth transition -- I want him to give the new school a chance and he's neurotic enough to forever hold it against the preschool itself that I sent him there against his will, if I did.
