How We Made the Decision to Pull Our Daughter from the French Stream into English

A few weeks ago we made the decision to pull our daughter from the French stream into English and it was years in the making. 

Let me pull you back a few years when my daughter was first starting Junior Kindergarten and the school was offering classes in French. I was over the moon excited for the opportunity and envisioned her speaking fluent French and landing a government position once she finished her post-secondary education, largely in part to her being bilingual. 

From day one she was not enjoying school. I think she tolerated it because she loved her teachers, Early Childhood Educator, and had amazing friends. Each and every morning of JK and SK was met with her stating she didn’t want to go while we packed her into her car seat and my husband whisked her away. Some days there were tears and she wanted to stay home but we kept sending her in the hopes that one day it would just “click”.

This year as our younger daughter started in a whole new classroom for grade 1 she started voicing her opinions more. When we asked how school was she would tell us she hated it. When I pushed a little more to see whether she was maybe being bullied she matter-of-factly stated she doesn’t understand anything. OOOOOOFFFF that hurt to hear. 

So we started to talk about switching over. I let her know she would no longer be in the same class as her friends. Begged her to give it more time as I did not want her to give up so easily. BEGGED. On a Sunday she let me know she wanted to switch over and I sent an email over to the principal of the school telling her we wanted to make the switch. 

I wish I could say that it was that easy and she moved over to English and everyone lived happily ever after. The End. 

Instead I ran into the principal that morning where she assured me that most kids don’t understand French yet and Aria will figure it out eventually. She did let me know that if we wanted to make the switch there was plenty of space in the English classroom but we should stick it out.

So after school when Aria was hoping that I would tell her that her days in French were over I once again told her to stick it out. I could see sadness course through her little body but life is not always fair and I was hoping that this was the right choice. Mama ain’t raise no quitters, or maybe she did. I was confused. She was so over it. 

We lasted less than a week in French before Aria broke down and once again advocated for herself. With tears running down her face she said she didn’t even care that she wasn’t in the same class as her friends anymore and that was it. It finally clicked with this mama that my child has always known what she wanted and I was doing a really shitty job of listening.

I once again chatted with the principal where I stood my ground and pushed forward with the transfer. It still took another week for her to make the move over but we spent the week playing hooky, playing with toys and just waiting for a fresh start. 

It’s been a couple of weeks now that we’ve been doing the English stream thing and we’ve discovered that the English stream is harder than the French except we totally understand everything we don’t understand.

The real kicker though came this morning when Aria once again claimed she didn’t want to go to school. When I let her know that that wasn’t fair since I had switched her over to the English she looked at me, smiled, and said “Maybe I just don’t like school?” 

I’m raising a comedian folks but it is her time to shine <3

Aneta Alaei

Aneta is a Toronto-based mom of four that loves a good meal, great company, and learning something new. In her free time, you can find her trying to keep yet another plant alive.

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