Lessons From Preschool

I am regularly hearing the lessons Toe learned in preschool applied in new contexts. One of the most recent happened on a drive a few days ago. We were driving along the highway and a car pulled out in front of me. There was plenty of room, it was a normal driving scenario, but from the back I heard, "Mom, that car went in front of you!"
"Yes," I said.
"But it cut in front of you in line!" (complete indignation in his tone of voice) "At preschool the teachers say that you are not supposed to cut in front of people in line. You go to the back of the line."

I had a moment of panic as I tried to think how to explain the situation while respecting the *important* rule he had learned at preschool. In the end, I explained that drivers wait for an opening in traffic - that it was kind of like waiting for the end of one line. Because there had been a space, we were the beginning of the next line. He accepted it. This time.

The part that fascinates me is that all year I have been asking him about preschool - what he learned, who he played with, how his day went... It was like pulling teeth. I could get some information some days, but I really had to piece it together. Toe mostly reported on friendships and group dynamics. I heard next to nothing about actual lessons or curriculum. I wasn't worried, he had great teachers whom I trusted completely. But now, as we go about our business through the day, I hear Toe trying to make sense of his world through the lens of the lessons he learned in preschool. This example is probably not the best one, because it makes his preschool sound much more regimented than it really was, but it is the one that sticks in my mind because it took me by surprise. I often wonder what else is going on inside that head of his, how he is working to make sense of the things that happen in his world.