Adventures at Baan Dek

Other Good Things

By Taté Walker

“Mom – we go to school see Missus George, and London, and Bobby George, and my friends. OK?”

Of late, this has been my morning wake-up call from Mimi. It’s been nearly one month since she started school with Baan Dek and the changes I see in my 2-year-old daughter are, to me, simply amazing.

The most notable (and fun, yet sometimes overwhelming) change is Mimi’s verbal evolution. While I’d like to say it’s due to her parents’ loquaciousness, I’m pretty sure we can’t take all the credit here. One of the selling points to enrolling Mimi with Baan Dek is the focus on establishing independence within each child. It’s not hard to connect the dots from independence to self-confidence. I have a feeling all of the new chatter in our house is due to Mimi’s growing confidence in her ability to communicate effectively with those around her.

Another bonus is the whole family operating on one schedule. To say it nicely, we Walkers were once considered a ‘flexible’ family; we gave ourselves a lot of room to make changes in our schedule on the fly. Now, I arrive at work earlier and get to spend more time in the evenings with my family. Although it’s nice as an adult to have room to change things up a bit, I understand adherence to a structured schedule is necessary for a child’s sense of security and mastery of their environment. That’s all fine and dandy for the kid, but last week I rushed out of a work appointment to get across town 15 minutes late to pick up Mimi from school, only to get there and find there was, in fact, no school (doh!). Bear witness, if you will, to my personal need for regularly scheduled programming, too. Thanks, Baan Dek!

But the BEST part about the Baan Dek experience is Mimi’s desire each morning to simply go to school – weekends included. As evidenced by the Mimi Alarm, I’m reminded each morning that my child wants to go see Mrs. and Mr. George, Mrs. Maltai, her peers, and London the dog. I can’t explain the contentment I feel each morning seeing her progress from hesitant to eager at the drop off. She started out behind my leg, and now rushes in with her lunchbox, waving me away to enter into a wide world of learning and possibilities.

Adventures at Baan Dek.