Mothers' Day Out

Today all over the greater Williamson county area there are mothers of preschoolers raising their hands up in a shout of praise to God because this week is the start of Mothers' Day Out! As many of you know, I was the MDO director at my church for 7+ years. I thought I would review a few of the MDO rules just as a friendly reminder to preschool parents. I'm going to use the handy list format because MDO teachers like to make lists. This list could help you get into a MDO or they can keep you in the MDO. Review them at your own discretion.

Here goes:

1. Please be at your child's classroom door by 2 p.m. and pick them up. MDO teachers want to clean up their classroom and go home. They have been in the room with 7+ children all day and are ready for a break. No, really they don't go home. They want to go to their own child's school and pick up the children that actually belong to them. And they want to be on time.

2. Please pack child friendly foods in their lunch box. Handy tips:

• Most one-year-olds cannot feed themselves yogurt. Most one-year-old teachers cannot feed five, one-year-olds yogurt at the same time. And yes, that's how it works at MDO. One person cares for numerous children at one time. If you've ever had trouble feeding two kids lunch at one time...imagine trying to feed five+ kids that are not your own at one time.


• Please do not send 2 Little Debbie cakes and a pack of Ritz crackers for lunch. This is frowned upon even by the former preschool director that thinks LD cakes are suitable sustenance for most every occasion.


• Cut grapes in half and don't send your child carrots if they do not have an appropriate amount of teeth. A child choking is a big fear in the MDO teacher world.


• No Cokes in the lunchbox.

3. Please do not send your child sick. If I had a dollar for every child that was brought to my desk for a temperature check and told me that they threw up in the middle of the night, I WOULD BE A MILLIONAIRE. Okay, maybe just a thousandaire. When the director calls you to tell you that your child is not well, please do not try to analyze your child's illness over the phone with the director, just come pick up your child...quickly. The director is responsible for 60+ children and has work to get done.

4. Pick up a Starbucks card for your child's teacher or the director. It's the year 2010 and no one really wants an apple...unless it's an apple with a touchscreen:)