小天使
孩子是父母眼中的天使。
*************
by 冰溪
As we know, most of the child caregivers we see are females. Thatis probably because a female represents a figure that is closest to amother, therefore is easily related by a young child. People relatequalities like soft spoken, loving, gentle, caring, patient andforgiving to females and therefore feel more comfortable if theirchildren are taken care by female caregivers. I felt the same way andthat was why I was little concerned when I heard that then eight-monthold Evan’s primary teacher was Mr. Chuck, the only male teacher in thefour infant suites.
Ofcourse, I was immediately ensured by the head teacher of the classroomthat Mr. Chuck was very capable of taking care of infants and very goodwith the children. He had been in another infant class for the previousyear and children loved him.
Onone hand, I have to admit that his decision to be an infant teacher wasintriguing to me. He must be good/special in some ways to be qualifiedfor this position. On the other hand, looking at the infants lyingaround the room, some as young as 7 weeks old, half of them screaming,I was curious how would he, a man in his early thirties, deals withthis on a day to day basis. So half believing and half doubting, westarted Evan’s daycare journey.
Needlessto say it can be very stressful working in infant suites as you have totake care as many as four or five infants at the same time, who totallyrely on you and some of them just like to cry and they can not tell youwhy. I definitely can not do it but Mr. Chuck seems to have the perfect qualities to deal with little babies.
Firstof all, he always smiles when he talks and seems always in a good mood,which is amazing. Second, he is extremely polite and always speaks withthis gentle caring voice, whether to the parents or to the children. Hegives you full attention when he talks to you and never leaves yourquestions unanswered. I have never seen him loosing patience trying tocomfort a screaming baby. He held them in his arm, rocked them, talkedto them or sang lullabies. In fact he seemed more patient than some of the female teachers I saw in the suite.
Mr.Chuck also did an excellent job creating Evan’s portfolio, lots of goodpictures and detailed annotations recorded every single step of Evan’sgrowth during his first year in daycare. We consider Evan’s portfolioone of the most precious gift we received.
BecauseMr. Chuck’s schedule was the same as ours, Evan got to spend most ofthe time with him during the day. Very soon, the head teacher told methat Evan and Mr. Chuck bonded so well that he would not allow anyother teachers to feed him (see picture).
Evan was a late crawler just like his sister and I had asked Mr. Chuck to help him to learn whenever he could. I will never forget one scene I saw during a pick up one dark winter night two years ago.
Iwas running late picking up the kids and they were obviously the lastfew left in daycare. I rushed into the daycare and turned right to thelong hallway leading to the Infant suites to pick Evan up. There,in the middle of the hall way between me and Evan’s classroom, were twofigures crawling towards me, one very big, one tiny. I was in shock fora second wondering what that big figure was. Then I recognized it wasMr. Chuck crawling side by side with Evan. He was cheering him up“Yeah, Evan! Good job, Evan.” Hearing the cheering, Evan went laughingand crawled even faster, almost lost his balance. I was surprised anddeeply touched by this scene. I did not expect a daycare teacher toactually get down to his knees to crawl with my son. Have you adultstried it? It hurts!
Itwas through small things like this that Mr. Chuck showed us hisdedication as a child caregiver. I was very pleased with the care heprovided to Evan and I gave my vote for the Award of Excellence to himwithout any hesitation.
AfterEvan finished his infant class, Mr. Chuck moved along with him into theyoung toddler class. He was the one who suggested to us that it wasbetter for Evan to have another primary teacher so that he can have theexperience of bonding with a new teacher which was important. Wefollowed his advice and after another year, Mr. Chuck remained in thesame class while Evan moved up. They still get to see each other a lotin the gallery or playing in the hall ways. Evan would still mentionhim once in a while.
Iwonder how long he will remember Mr. Chuck, his very first teacher. We,of course, will always remember him and feel thankful that Evan got tospent two years with a wonderful teacher like Mr.Chuck.
Mr. Chuck真不简单哪!
• 由 hummingboy ♂ 给 hummingboy 发送悄悄话 hummingboy 的个人博客首页 发表评论于 2006-04-27 07:43:53
实在是很感人. 想知道有多少父母能做到跟他们的baby一起爬.
• 由 子苏 ♀ 给 子苏 发送悄悄话 创建自己的博客 发表评论于 2006-04-27 07:58:16
又帅又温柔耐心的靓仔很难得哟.
• 由 朱竹 ♀ 给 朱竹 发送悄悄话 创建自己的博客 发表评论于 2006-04-27 08:46:34
Evan好有福气！
我女儿8，9，10个月的时候也不肯爬，屁股坐着往前蹭，一不小心还蹭到饭桌下面去了。我们经常爬给她看，鼓励她模仿。好在是地毯上，也不觉得难受。等她自己都会扶着墙走路了，又嫌走得慢，还不稳当，就决定往前爬。我们欢欣鼓舞地跟在她后面。这个时候，我们才发现，大人其实不如她厉害，不管多硬的地板，她都不嫌难受。
• 由 快乐一家人 ♀ 给 快乐一家人 发送悄悄话 创建自己的博客 发表评论于 2006-04-27 09:35:37
这 样 的 好 老 师 真 是 少 见 ，特 别 是 infant 时 期 是 很 需 要 耐 心 的 。 有 种 工 作 服 裤 子 ，有 knee pad build in 的 。 很 有 用 的。
• 由 appleworm ♀ 给 appleworm 发送悄悄话 appleworm 的个人博客首页 发表评论于 2006-04-27 15:17:25
Mr. Chuck is very touching... Evan's father is American?
• 由 冰溪 ♀ 给 冰溪 发送悄悄话 冰溪 的个人博客首页 发表评论于 2006-04-27 16:18:46
谢谢大家的评论. Evan 的确很有福气. Mr. Chuck是我见到的脾气最好的人. Super nice. 真的很适合带婴儿.他以后的baby有这样的爸爸一定很幸福.
HY: 完全同意
Hummingboy: 我试过,可是膝盖好疼耶
子苏:是啊,Mrs. Chuck好福气.
朱竹:我见到过我朋友的儿子屁股坐着往前蹭的样子,很可爱的呀.小孩子确实厉害,那么硬的地板爬着跟没事儿似的,我看着都疼.要是爬着还真追不上他们:)
快乐一家人: 的确如此.我要是早知道有这样的裤子真会买来试试:)
Appleworm: 真是火眼金睛!太厉害了,怎么猜到的? 我觉得Evan长得很象国人哪.
• 由 appleworm ♀ 给 appleworm 发送悄悄话 appleworm 的个人博客首页 发表评论于 2006-04-28 15:34:07
一看就是洋BB嘛, 长大是混血的帅哥. 而且你一只都用英文写作, 显然是说英语说得很习惯了--->老公说英语...
• 由 冰溪 ♀ 给 冰溪 发送悄悄话 冰溪 的个人博客首页 发表评论于 2006-04-29 11:34:32
Appleworm, 从那张照片就能看出是洋BB吗? 我一点儿都不觉得呀.Evan比Olivia象中国人因为姐姐的头发浅多了. 我的经验是把他们拿到洋人圈,人人都说他们是中国BB.带到中国,则人人都说他们是外国BB:).
用英文写作的原因是: 由于我的失职,小东西们不会讲中国话,就更别提认中国字了.因为不想以后一句句为他们翻译所以用英文写.以后给个网址他们自己看就行了.