Andrew, my sweet little 4-year old, is missing his preschool day today.  Not because he’s sick.  But because he simply doesn’t want to go.  And I’m not in the mood to fight him on it, yet again.  This will be week #4 and he still doesn’t want to go.  It starts bright and early in the morning as soon as he wakes up.

“Do I have preschool today?” he asks.
“Yes!”  I say, “Won’t that be fun?”
He scowls, “No! I don’t wannnnnnna gooooooo…..”

and I usually just ignore that comment and change the subject.  Then again at breakfast he says, “Mom, what time is preschool?”

“Right after lunch.”  I say.
“No!”
“Yes, Andrew.  Today is your preschool day.  You have fun when you’re there, right?”
Silence. 

See, the truth is…once he’s there, he does have fun, so he won’t lie and tell me no. Whenever I pick him up after his 3 hour preschool session, he tells me about his day; who he played with, the things he did.  His teachers (who I know and trust)  tell me that he does wonderfully in the class and participates.  He only cries and screams and throws a fit, clinging to my leg and kicking at the closed door when I drop him off.  After all that, he’s fine.

But no matter how much “fun” he is having, every single day he asks me if he HAS to go.  He tells me he’d rather stay home with me. 

Now, my mommy instinct asks me, why should I force him to go?  It’s not like he needs preschool.  I only send my kids to preschool the year before they start Kindergarten, and my only reason for sending them is for them to have FUN.  Not because I think they *need* to go for academic or socialization reasons. 

And really, he’s only four years old.  Soon he will be five, six, and then seven.  And from there, eight is right around the corner.  Then nine and ten! They grow up so quickly!  One more year at home full time with momma suits me just fine! 

My baby…((sniff, sniff ))