This is not the time to cry; you have to play...:)

      Today I got to work with a class of three-year-olds at church: the Ducks.  (I'm a little worried about my next time to volunteer - I'll be in with the Squirrels...:)
      These are the things I learned...
       *Windows must be shared... There was only window pane that went all the way to the floor.  So when the parents started coming to the pre-school area the kids all wanted to crowd into that one space to watch for mom and dad. But it wasn't just that they wanted to watch... they wanted to make sure that no one else got to watch!
       *Washing hands with real soap is a fun activity  -more so than playing with the toys scattered on the floors. (Toys are there to be scattered, stacked, thrown,  and/or grabbed from others; they are not for playing with).
       *If one child has to go to the bathroom, they all have to go to the bathroom...
       *Not all kids at this age are potty trained. Workers need to ascertain this vital fact before taking a kid to the bathroom.  Kids who are not potty trained can reel out a surprising amount of toilet paper from the dispenser in just a short time.. and while they are cluelessly playing with the toilet paper, someone who is potty-trained may be in a bind...
      * Parents should I.D.kids' shoes.  Two girls. Two pairs of white sandals. Both sets of footwear kicked off early in the game.   Both kids claimed both pairs of shoes.. until just before mom and dad arrived and then, suddenly, they magically knew which pair belonged to which!
       * Barney toys now have buttons that not only sound like a car horn honking but also have the chirp-chirp of a car locking - times have changed since my child was pre-school... 
      *Name stickers on the backs of clothes are worthless... except as a potential toy.
      *And when a child, thirty minutes into the worship service suddenly realizes mom is gone and begins to wail, the best response is to go over to them, take them firmly by the hand and say, This is not the time to cry, you have to play now...
      Although it may sound like I didn't have fun, I did.  Three-year-olds are at a sweet age and I loved looking at their little faces, even the ones that were puckered up, ready to emit a siren-like wail.  Maybe it's because I'm approaching my second child-hood, but I could actually  see how hitting the soap dispenser 40 times or pulling out a yard long string of toilet paper could be fun.  And honestly, I wish someone had explained to me when I was younger that there's a time to cry and a time to play - a useful piece of information in my mind!