Page 14 of Nanny Crush
The doors at the school open and kids come rushing out like a flood. Maddy comes running at me, and I pick her up and swing her around.
“Daddy!” she says in a giggle.
Xander comes walking up.
“Hey, bud. You have a good day?”
He nods. “I guess, but let’s get out of here. I’m starving.” He grabs my hand and pulls me down the sidewalk.
We all get loaded up and as I pull on my seatbelt, I say, “I hired the nanny. She’ll be moving in this weekend. What do you think of that?”
“Cool,” Xander says, not seeming to care one way or another.
“What about you, Maddy? What do you think?”
“Yaaaaaaay,” she cheers, despite having no idea what I’m talking about.
Either way, I shrug it off and make the drive home. The kids run in the house just throwing their jackets and backpacks down wherever they want, and I let out a sigh as I follow them through to the kitchen to make their afterschool snack.
“Xander, get started on that homework, buddy.”
He rolls his eyes, but drags his feet all the way to the living room where he dropped his backpack. He’s back in the kitchen minutes later, sitting at the table and doing his math worksheet.
After their snacks and Xander’s homework is done, I go through Maddy’s backpack and find a note from her teacher.
Please talk with Maddy about sharing. She’s been awful greedy lately and today she hit another student in the head with a toy car just so she could take the doll she wanted. This behavior will not be tolerated much longer. If it continues, I will have no choice besides removing her from preschool.
Remove her from preschool? Hell no! I don’t have the time to watch her all day.
“Maddy, come here, please,” I call out for her.
She jumps into the kitchen.
“Sit down,” I say, moving toward the table.
She crawls her little butt up into the chair and looks at me with the biggest, bluest eyes. My heart melts.
“Maddy, did you hit another kid at school today so you could take the doll you wanted?”
Her big blue eyes fall from mine, but she doesn’t answer.
“Do you know what this is?” I show her the letter and she shakes her head. “This is a note from your teacher. It says if you keep behaving this way, you won’t be allowed back in preschool. Do you want that?”
She shakes her head no.
“We do not hit people. Got it?”
She nods.
“If you’re not going to listen, you’re going to start getting punished.”
Her eyes move back up to mine.
“I’ll have to start taking things away from you. We don’t hit people. It’s wrong.”
She nods.
“Go play,” I tell her.
