I’m very excited about my new blog, “Thinking Out Loud.”  I thought a lot about my first topic.  My mind is wild so there’s lots of stuff cycling around at all times (yes, even when I should be sleeping) but I settled on “tough times.”  I think it will resonate with many if not all of you.

In the late eighties, Colorado Springs was the “foreclosure capital” of the world–– that’s what they said on the news, and we saw the headlines reflected in the jobs that ended overnight.  At that time I owned Little Folks Discovery Center, a preschool that offered three-hour classes, a private kindergarten, a full day program, and a school-age program.

We had great times at the center—amazing children, creative and warm teachers, and supportive parents!  But as I watched childcare programs of every type––good ones, bad ones, big ones, and small ones close, I wondered what we could do to keep our quality program and our doors open.

It was fitting when I found a big poster of lemmings all in a line jumping into the sea.  The catch?  There was one lemming that wore a cute little life vest.  I thought it was perfect to hang up in the kitchen, so I did.  “That’s us,” I said.  “We’re going to survive like that lemming!”

As time went on and things got worse, our enrollment diminished and our budget plummeted.  We thinned the easel paint and cut the lunch napkins in half.  Anything parents offered from blueprint paper (for creating masterpieces) to oatmeal boxes (for creating drums and bug boxes) was put to very good use.  We depended heavily on the simple things––sand and water, music, and games.  And a good book like The Three Little Pigs read with all of the good voices is unbeatable even in tough times.

We took it one day at a time, and we carried the image of that little life-vested-lemming around in our heads.  We laughed a lot, and, oh yes, one thing that we never cut back on was Teacher Treat Day.  Every Friday one teacher brought treats for the rest of us––and I imagine there was an abundance of chocolate therapy going on.  Good luck to all of you as we move together through these tough times, and if you ever come across such a lemming poster, send it my way

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 at 10:06 am and is filed under Edna's Blog: Thinking Out Loud. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.