The Garden School Tattler

One of the things that always surprises people is the wide socio-economic bridge that spans the lives of the children who come to the Garden School. Yesterday, one of our mothers was stunned to find out that some of our parents are needy.

A percentage of our children are on something called Step Ahead. That allows us to be on the USDA Child Care Food Program.

But more than that, people of all walks of life choose us as a school for their children because they like what they see. That crosses the socio-economic bridge better than any pocketbook. One doesn't have to be a millionaire or a Rhodes Scholar to understand that the environment at the GS is a good one.

We downplay clothes, forbid toys to come to school, and encourage every child's family to participate in the life of their child no matter what. Unification among our families is our first priority.

In every public school, and in many good private schools, there will always be a gamut of educations, incomes, interests, and even languages today. We are not a melting pot because people don't fuse. We are a mosaic of peoples and every day it becomes more interesting.

When I first started childcare, a hundred years ago, my first client was an advertising exec who is still one of my best friends. The children have families of their own, and live wonderful lives far away. One, Joe, was one of the worst children I ever had to struggle with - lots of bathroom humor - and now he's getting his master's degree in Comparative Literature and teaching at Chapel Hill.

The second family I took into my home was the city garbage man's son. He was a trouble free child who grew up to have his own business. I run into his parents frequently in town and we exchange old stories. I am proud to know these substantial people. And let me tell you, when I needed to get rid of that terrible old double door refrigerator and no one would take it, he took it away with a smile on his face.

At the GS, we've had every kind of family you can imagine. Our most interesting family was from Bangladesh. Daddy was learning a medical trade and would return with his family to a remote region of his country to establish the only medical station in miles. Mom spoke no English, and neither did the child, but we muddled through, and enjoyed every moment.

One of the saddest families I've ever had was an very affluent family with one adopted child who left her child with me after a noon doctor's appointment saying, "Well, he's got pneumonia, maybe I'll see him later and maybe I won't." That was in my pre-tough days.

The point of this is the intention to blend the children into a brother and sisterhood of care and compassion. Some children go home to plenty, and some to little, but each child at the school has had his school chosen by his parent for the same reasons. And that's a unifier.

We all come together monthly for parties and activities, and we don't seem to notice one another's short comings, at least I don't because I don't care. People are people with and without, and sometimes without is more interesting than with.