{"id":14770,"date":"2022-12-18T16:25:35","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T22:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/?p=14770"},"modified":"2023-06-10T16:41:20","modified_gmt":"2023-06-10T21:41:20","slug":"what-is-it-like-to-be-a-raintree-substitute-and-also-a-raintree-parent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/what-is-it-like-to-be-a-raintree-substitute-and-also-a-raintree-parent\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is It Like to Be a Raintree Substitute (and also a Raintree Parent)?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some names in the story have been changed.<\/em><\/p>\n

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After making my way down to the Lower Far East toddler community, I find the children gathered around the tables joined by a few parents and\/or guardians, having a cookie exchange. It\u2019s the penultimate day before winter break and although the children may not have a full grasp of how much their routines are about to alter for the foreseeable future, they can certainly grasp the growing buzz around campus as the holiday spirit begins to take hold.<\/p>\n

\u201cTodd,\u201d I hear Wafa\u00e2\u2019s voice. \u201cPlease come join us, won\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

I take cautious steps around the room finding my way to an empty toddler sized chair, greeting the children that seem to be excited to see me again after spending the previous day with them. I\u2019m seated next to a lovely couple that I gather to be the parents of Gracie, a child with distinct intent to be independent and a wonderful sense of movement in space. Instinctually I feel compelled to preemptively put these peoples\u2019 minds at ease as they surely recognize at this moment that they will be leaving their child in the care of this man they\u2019ve never seen and know nothing about.<\/p>\n

\u201cGracie and I met yesterday,\u201d I volunteer to her mother. Then to Gracie, \u201cDo you remember me from yesterday? Do you remember my name is Todd?\u201d Back to mom, \u201cHi, I\u2019m Todd the sub.\u201d Back to Gracie, \u201cHey Gracie, did you know that I have a son about your age that goes to this school, too? His name is Arthur. I also have a daughter named Ruth…she\u2019s in kindergarten but goes to a different school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gracie\u2019s mom grins, \u201cSo you spend all day with these kids here, then go home to kids the same age?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAround here they manage to mostly adhere to the social norms that go along with general classroom etiquette. You know as well as I do that the rails only start coming off in the comfort of home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gracie\u2019s dad leans in, \u201cIt\u2019s incredible to see this right now honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

I look at the group seated around a few tables, enjoying conversation and cookies together. \u201cYeah, it\u2019s a really great group.\u201d I turn to Gracie and say, \u201cI\u2019m going to do my best to do a good job filling in and I have a good friend and helper in you, right Gracie?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her despondent look and lack of response indicates the sugar is perhaps starting to kick in. Well deserved, Gracie.<\/p>\n

The cookie exchange will conclude shortly and I will have made sure to instill as much trust into these parents as I possibly can in this very brief moment. The next thing I will have made sure to do for them is present a happy and healthy child at the end of the day. That all did indeed go on to happen and what I concluded was this: a family electing to place the care of their child(ren) in our care is an act of extreme vulnerability, which I believe should be met with the same in return.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Much to the children’s dismay, we move on from cookies but they quickly find satisfaction when the cues begin to indicate that we\u2019ll be heading outside to play, which we do. Then it\u2019s time to come in and have lunch, which we do. Then nap, which we do. And we, which-we-do over the next day and a half until classrooms start dismissing and the days have counted down to hours, down to minutes, down to seconds, until suddenly it\u2019s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Todd Barnhart, Raintree parent and substitute<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some names in the story have been changed. After making my way down to the Lower Far East toddler community, I find the children gathered around the tables joined by a few parents and\/or guardians, having a cookie exchange. It\u2019s the penultimate day before winter break and although the children may not have a full grasp of how much their routines are about to alter for the foreseeable future, they can certainly grasp the growing buzz around campus as the holiday spirit begins to take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,47,65,45],"tags":[56,69,43,44],"class_list":["post-14770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-early-childhood","category-elementary","category-montessori","category-raintree","tag-community","tag-love","tag-montessori","tag-parenting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14770"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14773,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14770\/revisions\/14773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}