Nonverbal Nursery Negotiation

"Are they going to cry?"

This is the universal question we parents face when our kid goes to nursery for the first time.

And, "If they cry, should I stay? or just let the nursery leader deal with it?"

In the past, our ward has had a Junior Nursery: kids still attached to their binkis, in diapers, and unable to handle the average cup without spilling all over themselves and the floor. 80% of the criers are in this group. The Senior Nursery consists of kids who have moved ahead of these problems (we hope) and can sit, play, eat and sing with less spilling and less fussing.

For the new year, our new nursery leaders decided to mix things up. They intermingled the newbies and the oldies for two classes. So each group consists of whiners and poopers plus the more mature kids--so there would some motivation to prepare a lesson.

Kamryn's first day of nursery was the test-run for this multi-age experiment. Here's a little background leading up to it:

1) I decided that nursery is a good enough milestone to leave her binki in the diaper bag. She loves her binki. My selfish plan banks on the older nursery kids and their advanced verbal skills--maybe some new words will rub off. A binki would just interfere.

2) Her naptime is from 1:30-4:00 P.M. We have church from 1:00-4:00 P.M. Enough said.

3) I reasoned that because we had just lunched, there was no reason to give her snacks all through sacrament meeting (I was too lazy to find something before we left for church). Plus, there would undoubtedly be snacks in nursery.

As I was walking down the hall with a very cranky, hungry girl, the universal question surfaced brightly in my mind.

I'm happy to report that my 18-month-old is NOT a crier in nursery. Hallelujah!

While sitting on my hip, and upon her first survey of the nursery room, Kamryn's attention was quickly drawn to middle table neatly organized with FOOD. She looked at me for a second and then squirmed out of my hold. She shimmied her cute little bottom onto a little nursery chair, pointed to the fishies on the napkin and said, "Eat!"

In between mouthfuls, she looked at her neighbor who was crying (and, I might add, is NOT even a newbie). The look on her face was, "Dude, what's your problem? We have fishies and animal crackers--AND our own sippie cup. Look! (Pointing to the boy's snacks), you even have an elephant! Go for it dude--who needs mom when there's crackers?"

All I did was shrug my shoulders and walk out the door--with a BIG smile on my face.

When I came back two hours later, the report was a successful first day! Kamryn was dead on her feet, but happy. I was informed that she is quite skilled in the art of toy negotiation. Nonverbal, of course. She would go up to a kid who had something she wanted, pat him on the back and hand him a toy for trade. My plan for osmotic verbal advancement backfired, I suppose. She now knows a new word and uses it at home frequently: MINE.

Gotta love nursery.