this one's for you, grams

speaking as someone with no experience ever working with pre-schoolers before, i have to say i think these kids have behavioral problems beyond the average pre-schooler. it's pretty normal for some kids that age to throw a fit when told to share or to wait their turn but these kids throw fits and act out aaaaaaall daaaaaay.
with my limited conversational abilities in spanish, i asked the tia why they get so out of control. she explained to me they all go home to single mothers and their fathers, for the most part, are completely out of the picture. i mean, these kids are at this community day care center because their mothers work during the day and can't afford anything else. she said when they go home on nights and weekends there is no discipline in their lives, so it's hard to discipline them during the day.
sometimes i feel like they don't really understand what's acceptable behavior and what's not. which explains the necessity of a stoplight of rules i made for them. now when they're misbehaving i can point to the poster and ask if what they're doing is in the red or in the greeeen, and, subsequently, should they stop or go on.

in any case, we went on a group trip horseback-riding today and i'm pooped.