When I was four
When I was four I would refuse my naps. I disliked daycare because the made me take a nap.
Everyone had the same routine and I was required to adhere to it, to follow it.
WhenI was four, in my class at daycare they had musical instruments that I wanted go play. But
they said, “No, they were not for individual play.”
Musical instruments were there to admire. “Do not touch, you could break them!” The teacher
often said strictly.
When I was four we didn’t have books available for us to browse. Teachers put them away from
us so we won’t damage and tear books, they called this “protecting” them.
So there will be another generation of children after us to admire all these real things. I did not
enjoy our toys that were available for us to play in daycare too much, like these plastic shapes
of fruit and veggies. Or this fake bottle for a fake baby to feed. I enjoyed the time we spent
outside. Playing with the sand and sifting dry sand to make flour. Then dig deep to get a vet
sand so I can make shapes out of moulds. We were picking up dandelions and weave crowns,
and making rings out of them. Or during the winter we often build a snowman. There were trees
but no one could climb on them because the teacher said it was dangerous.
One thing I hated about daycare was nap time. I never wanted to sleep but again no e didn’t one
asked questions in daycare. You have to follow the orders. Routine was for everyone even if you
did not want to sleep, you had to. I begged the teacher I could stay up and read a story for my
friends. Yes, read. No, I did not know how to read yet. But I used my imagination. I was allowed
to stay awake when my mum was picking me up early. Even teachers were impressed by my
“reading”, and they were not impressed just by anything. They would often look for mistakes and
try to correct you but never praise you or your effort. So I was “reading from the thick book that
was the collection of folk stories author heard from people and put together. I was mixing of
stories I heard from my grandma. She used to tell them before I went to sleep. I also memorized
some books my parents read to me often and I would use them in my “reading”. How little red
riding hood met 3 headed dragons and helped him find his lost eggs children. Or little bear
adventures with his best friend. The book was full of letters, no pictures at all. How I wished I
could know how to read.
So far I knew how the letter “L” looked like. That was the first letter of the name Leonardo, my
favourite ninja turtle. And I knew how the letter “Z” looked like because that was the first letter of my name. But with these two letters, I could not read, there were more to learn and I had to wait till I go to school.
My dad said, they will teach me how to read as soon as I start. I asked him to teach me but
after I did not tell correctly letter he gave up (he tried hard) and promised me I will learn when
the time comes, now I am too small to understand. I was often too small to understand
according to adults. That’s why I wanted to be an adult as soon as possible so I can be taken
seriously and do what I wanted, not what I had to all the time.
Since then I learnt to read and enjoyed countless books full of stories and information but never
got a chance to create stories as I used to, until…
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