Mail Delivery

I checked the mail last Tuesday afternoon. There were three envelopes in my mail box – one was addressed to my husband, there was a Christmas card addressed to a different house on my street, and the third item was addressed to my house number but on a nearby street with a much different name.

*Sigh* Here we go again. This isn’t the first time I’ve received mail addressed to someone else. I find it happens several times over a few weeks and then not at all for a while. That makes me think it may be due to a substitute mail carrier but I’m not entirely certain there is a regular mail carrier. I have seen several different mail carriers in the neighbourhood at various times of the day and there is nothing consistent about when my mail gets delivered.

I was annoyed – the addresses on these envelopes were clearly written so there was no doubt they didn’t belong at my house. Usually when I get someone else’s mail I just go out after the children have left for the day and drop the envelopes at the correct address. No big deal for me but I can’t help wondering if there is some of my mail at someone else’s house and they can’t be bothered to correct the mistake.

I had a busy evening planned and didn’t have time to deliver the mail Tuesday evening so I decided to wait until the following day. The children and I go for a walk every day – we could just take the letters with us and drop them off while we are out.

The children were actually thrilled by the task – their biggest concern was that there wasn’t more mail for them to deliver. This was the point when my mind began to spiral out of control. What if we could solve the childcare funding crisis by paying childcare homes and centres to deliver the mail?

Seriously! It is not child labor, it is curriculum – literacy, numeracy, physical activity – in a way that excites the children. There are schemas involved too – transporting, ordering, enclosing…maybe some trajectory. Don’t get me started on the social skills and art – once the toddlers figure out there is someone on the street that never gets any mail there will be a massive art project to rectify that!

Ok, so I don’t really want to suggest that we take jobs away from the mail carriers who have a greater than 33% accuracy rate so this doesn’t have to be a permanent position – maybe just to cover when the regular mail carrier is on vacation. It could be like a fundraiser- how much does Canada Post pay for two weeks of mail delivery? Probably more than we’d make selling chocolate bars. We would rather deliver mail.

Alright Canada Post – your move – what do you think?

Toddlers in the Yard

The toddlers have been doing an amazing job with their curriculum planning.  They spent most of one morning diligently moving gravel from one corner of the yard to another.  They started by using the shovels to place the gravel on the little tree slices;

Then they carried the tree slices from the NE corner of the yard – carefully so the gravel didn’t fall off – past all the obstacles;

Around the hill to the SW corner of the yard where they dumped the gravel into a bowl;

Sure, if they were into ‘products’ it would have been easier to just sat here and fill their bowls up quickly but they like the ‘process’.   This process involved fine motor, gross motor, cognitive skills, cooperation and a whole lot more.

Then there was the music – banging pots and pans;

Creating rhythms with sticks on drums;

Singing through the big hose to create special sound effects;

At one point all four of them were involved in a rousing rendition of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ – it was amazing – just ask my neighbours ;-)

Then there was ‘gym class’ where they practiced climbing up, dancing on, and jumping off the big stumps;

Over in the garden there was story time – they love to tell Grandpa Tree amazing stories;

Grandpa Tree is a wonderful listener – waiting patiently all day long to hear anything you want to share with him.

Yes, the toddlers planned the perfect curriculum – I couldn’t have done any better.