Great work if you can get it?

It's about 18 years since I last taught Nursery on a regular basis, which probably explains why I am feeling so exhausted at the end of each day! The Reception children are fine - they have been in school long enough to have become 'civilised.' They now understand the rules of the game of this thing called school, they know that when the teacher asks them to be quiet and listen, it's a good idea to comply - makes life easier all round.
Nursery, now they are in a different universe, especially if the general routine at home is along the lines of being allowed to do what they want, when they want and never having to do as they are asked, which seems to be the norm for a sizeable minority of the little treasures.
And so we have the daily routine - come in, drop coat on floor and walk over it, have a tantrum when made to pick it up and hang it on the peg, run round the room and roll around the floor when Miss is trying to get everyone settled and call the register, throw oneself on the floor when the classroom assistant intervenes and tries to persuade one to sit still like the other children. The next tactic is to start goading other children and disrupting their attention - and then of course, one has to have another screaming fit when chatised.
Myself, I would love to be a fly on the wall when these children are six foot teenagers and their parents are belatedly trying to exert some control over them. What goes around, comes around, as the Americans say!
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