I had to cancel our membership to our local child enrichment center, and I’m heartbroken. This had been a safe place for my son and me for almost three and a half years; it has been a constant in our lives every week until now. We had to cancel because his preschool schedule interferes with the center’s new schedule. My child is growing too fast. I wonder what we are going to do with the days he doesn’t have school? I don’t want to look for drop-off classes yet, but I still wanted to have something to do with him for the next couple of years. This place has been there for us for so long that I’m struggling to let go.
One of the mind-boggling aspects of parenting, to me, is the multitude of contradictions you encounter on this journey. You want them to grow, but you get sad when they do. You want them to reach all the milestones in time, but when they do, you miss the early days when they didn’t walk, eat solids, or talk. You want them to be potty trained, but miss the convenience of diapers when there’s not a bathroom in sight. You need some time for yourself, so you are excited when they start going to school, but then cry on the first day after drop-off. That’s how I feel about this; I knew we couldn’t go forever, but the change of schedule was unexpected, and I wasn’t ready to leave it behind.
We started going to the enrichment center when my baby was four months old. My mom told me to find something to do outside of the house. She reminded me that I used to go to classes when I was young, too, so I looked it up and found some in Carmel. We went to ask about the classes they were offering, and it quickly became part of our routine. One of my first memories as a child at the center was the parachute, and it makes me really happy that my son was also able to experience this fun place from my memories. Hopefully, giving him early memories of the fun times we spent together in classes when he was little.
We’ve grown with it; every milestone, like crawling or walking, meant we were ready to transition to the next class. It was also really fun to share that with the other families and get to see the other kids grow with mine. This has been a place where you can build community with new and seasoned parents with children the same age as yours. We also tried the music and art classes, and some days we ended up going twice to pass the time in the afternoons at the open gym.
The classes are unique; they are designed to go along with childhood development. It is a safe place to spend time with your child, to learn, play, and explore the always-changing play space. It was our first encounter with play-based learning, and we liked it so much that we also chose a preschool that follows the play-learn system.
I can’t believe he is only three and a half years old, and we’ve already said goodbye to his first class. I don’t know why I’m so heartbroken. I think I still struggle with change like toddlers do. One of the things I’m struggling with is that I’ll miss the teachers a lot. The teachers there are some of the kindest people I’ve encountered on my motherhood journey. It just felt really nice to have a place to go every week with people accompanying and enjoying with us. People come and go, but I do feel like we really need to recognize the people who are part of very important stages of our lives, especially during motherhood. The teachers from our classes will always be part of my early memories with my baby.
Our center not only offers classes for kids, but they also have special events like seasonal parties (it was really fun to dress up for our first Halloween as a family), you can also host birthday parties with them, they have school skills classes or preschool experience, and in the summer they offer special classes and activities, like summer camps and more.
Leaving behind this special place where I shared so many fun times with my son has been difficult, but I’m ready for the next step of our journey as mother and son.
