the marta maria show

Marta is six years old. She is the oldest (by a few months) in her kindergarten and detests the mandatory nap time. She is eager to learn.

At the same time, every morning it's the same. By the time Marta is ready for kindergarten she's thrown a few fits and is more often than not crying over something. Not exactly mature behavior.

Because she's frustrated and not ready or even old enough for Estonian school (which begins when you are 7), we have decided to put her in eelkool (literally "preschool") two times a week. This is a place where kids learn in a classroom environment without the big pressures of real school. Today was her first day. I asked her how it went. She said they talked about the number 7 and sang some songs. That's all I could get out of her. The teacher seems nice. We'll see how it goes.

I still haven't figured out how to deal with Marta's, well, Martaness. Sometimes, I try it the calm Estonian father way: "Marta, please put your clothes on." If that doesn't work, I try Italian-American father way: "Put your damn clothes on now before I make you put them on!" This doesn't work either because Marta likes fighting. She'll only shout louder. It's a real dilemma. Usually, I just wind up putting them on myself. But that doesn't help Marta to grow up, now, does it? Hmm.