Finding a Good Preschool for Your Child

 Some kids are happy in preschool. Some are miserable. And not surprisingly, the happiness or misery of a child in a preschool usually correlates to how good or bad the preschool is.

The quality of different preschools varies tremendously. Tremendously. And if you are a parent, it can sometimes be hard to know, based simply on the tour they gave you, whether it is a good, mediocre, or bad preschool. As a preschool teacher who has worked in various Centers, I've seen those places from the inside, and often knew things that the parents did not.
     I've seen many parents base their evaluation of a preschool on the cleanliness of the place. That's not enough to go on! Trust me.
     I've heard parents on a tour ask question after question, the only problem being they were asking useless questions, not revealing ones.
     Unfortunately, I've also heard a director basically lie to parents on a tour, telling them nice-sounding but untrue things about the preschool.

As tricky as it might be, there are ways to correctly evaluate a preschool, thus enabling you to make the best decision for your child.  In future days and weeks, there will be a series of articles on this blog about this subject. It is hoped that these articles might become useful to parents.

Breeds of attacking dogs are usually unknown

According to the 2013 study by the American Veterinary Medical Associations, breed verification was only possible in 14% of dog-caused fatalities. 
Other studies had been based on newspaper and TV reports. This study was based on law enforcement reports, animal control reports and investigator statements.                                                                                  It is clear however, that the owners of attacking dogs fit a certain profile. Breed specific legislation is a mistake. What we need is owner specific legislation. There should be a test for dog ownership, as there is a test to assess someon'es fitness to drive a car. In some states, people must have  license before owning a gun. Same thing could go for dog ownership.

Weird Experience (Slight Ickiness Warning)

So I was on a train, and I went and got some water to drink. Now most of these Amtrak trains have little cups that can be pulled out from the thing holding them, and there is a little water dispenser, next to the bathrooms. On this train, I didn't see that. However, there were cups inside the bathrooms, so I decided they must expect us to use the little sink inside the bathroom. So I drank some water. Then I stepped out of the bathroom, realized I wanted some more, went into the nest bathroom, and got some more water in the cup.

I noticed it was an odd brown color. I had a thought that water was not supposed to be that color and a thought that it was probably some horrible thing that would make me very sick. 

I drank it.
Have I mentioned that I have this brain/action disconnect where weird things around me do not affect my actions because it takes so long for me to process those things?

So after drinking it, I think "I should not have done that." I spent a few minutes imagining future days sick on a hospital bed. I was kind of worried. I had the thought "Well, maybe it would be safer if I threw up." After deciding no, I won;t do that, and being relieved to avoid the disgustiness of throwing up, even if at the cost of horrible sickness, somehow I ended up deciding to try to do that.
So I went back to the bathroom to make myself throw up. For some reason I thought it would be really liquidy...it had been several years since I'd ever thrown up, so I had this idea that I could jsut stand over the sink instead of the toilet. Not sure why I wanted to do that. After several moments of sticking my fingers up my throat it seemed that it wasn't going to work. I was relieved to be freed of the potential disgustingness. Yet, I persevered. With no nausea, a bunch of stuff came out. Unfortunately, it was not perfectly liquid, and I realized it was going to sit in the sink and gross out some poor innocent passenger. So I tried more over the toilet. It is amazing how one can vomit repeated times, and it is amazing that one's stomach can hold so much, so much more than one would think.

what is the best form of listening? Is it empathy as empathy is usually described?

I think emotional calmness is better than getting emotionally worked up about what someone is feeling.
This is why I tell my best friend everything bad that's happened to me, but I don't tell my family.
If I tell my family, they will get all worked up, and upset, and emotional, and then I will be more upset and distraught because now I am upset and distraught at having to deal with their strong emotions.
But my best friend will just listen, in perfect calm, he will think about what I said, and give a piece of genuinely good advice.

Gilson

I was struck by this quote: The nature and significance of the work done by St Thomas Aquinas cannot be fully understood by those who approach it as if there has been nothing before it.


(from Etienne Gilson's book, The Elements of Christian Philosophy)

80%

When someone says "80% of communication is non-verbal'" one has to assume that that phrase only conveyed 20% of whatever it is they were really trying to say.

On Knee-jerk use of "Don't Blame the Victim"

I wonder and worry that the "Don't blame the victim" meme (which is constantly raised and shouted all over the internet in response to someone mentioning advice for reducing one's possibility of rape), might raise the number of victims as women are taught by this mantra to not learn how to defend or take precautions to protect themselves.