**Teacher kid pressure**

As most of us are transitioning out of our August to June jobs (teacher), many of us pick up our year round job full-time (Mommy).  In case you haven't been a follower long enough to know- I have two sweet angels of my own. Let me rephrase that- they are sweet angels- most of the the time.

See I have proof that they love each other!!

And then they are times when they are down right stinkers. But whose kids aren't??

Nash is 4 years old and entering his second year at Montessori. Nash is your typical first born. Usually a pleaser- rule follower-Momma's boy-sentimental.

Emmie is a new 3 year old who will be entering her first year at Montessori in the fall.  Emmie is your typical second child. Wild-opinionated-spunky-creative-constant source of entertainment.

I chose to put them in the same class next year for a few reasons. One- I love the teacher. Two- I wanted to take advantage of the morning-freshness time. Three- I wanted them to learn to be peers and not just siblings. 

As a teacher I have mixed views about keeping siblings together, but for us this just feels right (my mother-in-law tends to disagree with me but I think that is part of her job :). 

Ahem- Back to the real point of the post. I feel a lot of pressure. Like tons of pressure- for my kids to be ready for kindergarten when the time comes for that big leap.  There is an automatic label placed on teachers' kids- with-it/smart/got-it-all-together. I am guilty of the assumption myself.  I am not the only one right???  Do you all feel these pressures about your kids?

So last year I pushed Nash with reading and letters. We had always read every night, done puzzles, and all that good stuff, but I was really pushing letters on him.  He resisted and fought me on it.  After thinking about it, I realized I needed to back off. 

Now that I am they are a little bit older, we have things figured out a little better. 

I set the timer for 30 minutes at some point throughout the day and we call it "Letter Time."  Letter Time can include anywhere from alphabet puzzles to coloring sheets to songs to handwriting papers. Here is some proof-

 As a first grade teacher-I use the term "developmentally appropriate" ALL.THE.TIME.  Like almost as much as terms like "engaged" and "focused."  But I don't think I fully understood the term until it applied to my own children.  I think my kids will help me figure it out, and I will try my darndest to be patient and loving through the whole process. 

On that note- please point me in the direction of your favorite preschool and toddler sites!  And just in case you are living under a rock and haven't heard of Annie at Moffatt Girls here is a link to her site. She has fantastic ideas and resources!!