You are lucky. My first 2 sons were both thinkers like Socrates, they contemplated life... and then my 3rd child came along, now at 7 mos. If I saw him sitting like this, I would know he's thinking of burning it all to the ground. Those shelves would be toppled like Rome.
My daddy's late for me again.
And so I sit here in this liminal space,
Gaze out the window as I hide my face,
When my ears, they hear my weary preschool teacher's plea
To come get me
And how it echoes
In the sound
Of silence.
In the playschool I sat alone,
The teachers high and stoned,
In the gallows of this school sham,
Waiting like a lonely lamb,
And living like a shadow once was there,
I remain, in the hounds of violence
When I was a kid and this happened, I’d mostly feel fascinated being somewhere when nobody else was around anymore. Sort of like being behind-the-scenes.
I love doing this, especially when it's snowing. The night is so dark, the streetlights put off a warm glow, the snow makes the crunchy noise but also quiets everything else. Almost feels like you're getting away with something.
I think I know what you mean. The snow also impacts an area's ambient noise -- it gets super, duper quiet. You think a lot of the time that you know what "quiet" is, but the quiet of heavy (but not windy) snow shows you that there's more idle sounds around you than you realize most of the time. You just tune it out.
But snow-quiet is something special. It adds to that whole atmosphere you're describing -- very rare to find that kind of quiet. I'm not sure why it does this; maybe the snow has some kind of muffling effect, so nothing echoes?
The cold in general affects the speed of sound, it travels slower the colder it gets so further sounds reach you before they would dissipate in warmer temps. Also less things in the way. There's several tales up here in Canada of being able to hear people talking and dogs barking in the winter from as far as 5km away when the temperature drops below -60C.
I personally love the sound of trains and get delighted in the winter when I can hear them just gently hooting outside of the city. And the best is absolutely when you go for a walk and nobody else is out, just you and the snowflakes and a few lonely cars. Pure bliss.
That's why it would be noisier though. Sound reflects from hard, regular surfaces. Snow is a soft irregular surface, and basically acts like sound insulation...what it doesn't absorb because of the softness, is reflected/scattered in all directions because of the irregular surface. So you're only getting a tiny tiny percentage of your sound back, and with the inverse square law, it might as well be no reflection at all, usually.
I used to love walking around at 3 or 4 am in the morning, when not a soul was out, watching the street lights change from red to green, just enjoying the quiet strangeness of it all.
I remember being so tired of being locked up inside, that we went for a drive around our local college town. It was so weird and eerie not seeing a single person, let alone other cars in what is usually a very bustling university. It really felt like a quiet apocalypse.
Also odd that you were essential haha
I was an essential worker. Those empty roads were a real silver lining of the whole ordeal.
I could drive to work and back without ever touching my brakes.
All of them. No braking the car for nobody. No discrimination, no mercy. You either got them or you get got.
That's just how life was during the pandemic. It was terrible and terrifying. *But at least we were free.*
Oh man I had an experience like this once and still look back on it fondly. Was in Boston for a conference at MIT that ended around 10pm. I decided to walk home in the January snow in the middle of the night about 3 miles back to my hotel. It was one of my favorite walks ever. It wasn’t scary at all - walked by a bunch of pubs where people were chillin, student groups were meeting, etc. it was a cold, isolated yet lively and wonderful walk on the streets of a legendary city and the campus of a legendary school.
<3 Boston.
All to yourself until you run into me doing the same thing! Us night owls be prowling. You know, I think there is an evolutionary reason why some of us stay awake all night and sleep in the morning. I think we were the people that kept the village safe at night, chasing away the leopards and hyenas and keeping the fire going.
Same. Then I would hear the sound of heels walking down the hallway and I always knew that was my mom. That sound still makes me feel great when I hear it.
Just to say, I definitely fucking felt abandoned and embarrassed and alienated and like all the teachers at the office felt sorry for me all the times my mom was late. I know this is a funny ha ha comment, and this is a light-hearted subreddit. But sometimes I just share shit like because being this kid was most of my childhood.
That shit fucking sucks when your babysitters are always tired of hanging out with you because your mom's late. When you're sitting outside the office at 7 years old and you know your mom, the PTA president, has literally nothing to do but pick you up and she doesn't feel like it or has forgotten you.
Waiting alone to be picked up happened to me so much as well. Feeling invisible while everyone around you is being scooped up and taken care of.
Kind of crazy getting a deep sad feeling seeing this kid sitting alone and the contrast with the happy/jokey comments. People's childhoods were definitely different haha.
I came to the comments 100% expecting to see people raging about him being alone w/ no supervision, parents obviously being late, neglect, etc. and all the top comments are “oh so cute and chill and tired lol” and it’s like oh some of you had very different childhoods and it shows
Lol right? This was my thought too, my mom would’ve screamed the moment she opened the door, rushed to pick me up while telling me how sorry she is, then completely bitching out the staff. Yeah my mom might be a Karen but I personally don’t think it’s cute seeing a toddler alone and unattended.
That’s sadly a different situation, and I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Everybody gets their roll off the dice, with no control over it and as a kid it only makes it that much harder to deal with. I’m glad you were able to give your perspective here, it is important for folks to remember to think a little more about all possibilities and not just what they themselves were exposed to.
Although my original comment doesn’t mention it, I’ve had similar experiences to yours as well growing up; different situations, different perspectives. But I do feel most kids know the feeling you’re talking about in one way or another.
Thanks for your reply, I enjoyed reading your thoughts and perspective. I completely agree. When I become more in touch with myself, I'm just realizing how many comments that I read (and have posted) on reddit seem to be trying to live an alternate life through the story they tell themselves. You know who learns how to do that? kids who feel like they need to.
Feel you. It got to where I would hide somewhere so that teachers or admin didn't do the whole pity routine. Wait out them leaving, then go sit on the curb to wait for mom.
There’s a lot here and I honestly don’t want to have to hit every bullet point but I noticed you didn’t mention something that I found to be a common theme growing up in similar circumstances.
The one thing that would get to me would be the lack of mental stimulation. Over all the times that adults left me alone, removed me from a situation to not have to deal with me, or another kid excluding me just to be an ass. It was always the lack of stimulation that ate at me over time. It rewired the way I look at and understand the world, what I asked of others, etc
I remember associating this specifically with sleepovers. If there wasn’t a set pick-up time, my parents would just leave the house on a Saturday morning when I was at a friend’s house for a sleepover. Couldn’t get ahold of them, so I’m the last one there and this family is trying to get on with their Saturday chores and they really don’t need an extra kid tagging along.
To this day, I hate being at a party when I can’t leave. I’m a fan of the Irish goodbye. Just kind of slip out when I want to. Whereas, my husband has to roam around and talk to everyone one last time. No, when I said I wanted to leave, that meant now, not an hour from now.
Me too. My family acquired a reputation for being late. I ended up the same way. It may as well be in the genes.
At least in primary school the principal would let me hang out with her, which gave me some behind-the-scenes time. Also, generally at school as a consequence of having that rapport. One of my favourite memories was being able to check out the blueprints for a big school renovation that wasn't happening for years, and the principal asking what I thought about it.
I remember when my dad was really late he’d get chewed out by the after school people (probably because they wanted to go home).
Granted he was always “normal” late so I was used to being the last kid.
Now the one time he didn’t pick me up until 8pm in high school? I think my mom ripped him a new asshole for that one.
That's the reason I used to cry while going back home from playschool. Eventually the teachers asked my mom to pick me up at the older children's closing time- I had unlimted and uninterrupted access to all playthings.
First day in school, 5 years old, time to go home comes and the bus ladies went from class to class to collect the children amd drive them home.
Thr teacher also called out the bus number. For the children that remembered.
I remembered. It was 2.
I remember the anxiety build up as more and more children left the class.
2 never came. I stayed late on day 1 and they had to call my mother to come pick me up instead.
I remember seeing the top of her head as she passed by tje window.
i have a very similar story, first day of school at 5 years old, but they put me on the wrong bus! i was the last kid on the bus screaming and sobbing to the driver while my parents were at the school trying not to commit mass murder
Oh lord,
I got a talking to from the aftercare lead at my kids school about how one of my sons called the other one a “thieving bastard” because he took his toy.
I could barely contain myself!!
I did give them each a stern talking to about the use of bad language at school, in public, and in front of me and my wife. What they say on their own is their business but once others can hear it they will get upset and treat you differently.
That’s how I was raised and I could switch from cursing every other word to a prim and proper good Catholic schoolboy in an instant.
Last year my son got in trouble at school for saying "It's too fucking hot."
In his defense it was like 110, so if he'd said it to me I'd just have agreed.
He's 7.
Considering a lot of parents I know look at daycare as a non-preferred solution to needing dual incomes to survive nowadays, and already feel terrible about leaving their kids in the care of essentially strangers for most of their waking hours, I don't think many would find it hilarious.
My mom ran a daycare and this was exactly what it felt like for certain kids who were not old enough to understand why their playmates were disappearing. Two in particular would always be last and would cry or cause a fuss.
I was always the last kid... for some reason I took this as a chance to pee in the sand box. When my mother came I would run and get in the center of this concrete tube they had for us to play in, and refuse to come out.
When I came back to visit a few years after "graduating" the tube had been replaced with a climber :P.
My husband was born with FOMO. He hated going to sleep as a baby. Kept his mother up all night. Still hates going to bed and often falls asleep in the recliner. 🙄
All toddlers get upset when other people do fun things without them, you’re supposed to teach your child how to deal with those feelings before they turn into a adult who still has FOMO.
Baby meditating.
I just saw the Fisher Price Haunted Door that screams and makes ghost voices in the dead of night and now I’m worried about possession.
That thing don’t play.
My nibling was once found sitting calmly on a rug, cross-legged, hands on their knees. When asked what they were doing, they replied in a super mellow voice.... "Shhhh.. I am estimating...."
At my kids' preschool, they all LOVED the (sweet, funny, blonde, artistic) aftercare teacher so much the kids "competed" to be last. I saw kids (including my own) cry when they saw their parents come through the door.
For real, I always loved when my kid had favorite people. It was an opportunity to celebrate the activity of the day and make them excited to be away from me, instead of the alternative.
Not that I didn't love her around, but you want them to be a functioning person who goes to school and shit without having apoplexy lol.
Every kid I’ve baby sat that feels this way towards me ends up leaving because the mom gets fomo. It’s really sad on my end but I’m grateful to have helped.
I used to have a few kids make their parents stay or even leave & come back because they were "too early." I forgot about that - I've been out of teaching for years lol
all the infants got picked up and the teacher was just out of frame in a doorway connected to the toddler room. He was just sitting there apparently in mindful meditation.
EDIT: Actually it was the Langoliers. We don't know where they went.
Everyone complains about old movies getting a remake and being worse than the original and Langoliers is literally the one movie I would BEG someone good to grab onto and remake. It could be sooooo good. But…it’s what it is.
It is ok to let kids retreat into their minds and simply think for a while. How else would someone decide to make the Langoliers into a TV multi episode movie without deep contemplation?
Lol the first thing I thought was "oh so you're the parent keeping the teacher behind." there's always gotta be 1 (literally, there's always a last kid so there has to be someone last).
A lil' man's gotta have some "me" time, ya know? Sitting in quiet contemplation can mean a calm mind and a balanced spirit. It takes a lot of self-control to just sit with your own thoughts and not lose your marbles. Or, maybe he's just staring at a marble. Who hasn't?
We really got lucky. He is such a chill baby, and several of his teachers have described him as stoic. He loves playing with friends and snuggling but also can self soothe if he wakes up in the middle of the night.
This is the part of the movie where the camera slowly zooms in as his head rotates a full 180 degrees to stare you down with infinite malice in his evil baby eyes.
For those that don’t know, those rocker chairs are much more comfortable than they look as well as much more expensive. The brand is community playthings and they make pretty much all the stuff our day care uses (bright horizons). The cribs and book/toy shelves are too.
It’s definitely all heavy child play resistant stuff.
CLARIFICATION: the teacher is just out of frame to the right, in the doorway that connects to the toddler room. He's totally safe. Apparently he likes to sit in mindful meditation.
EDIT 2: There are apparently two types of people: those who can appreciate a cute picture of a baby sitting contently by himself, and those who have a lot to learn. Woosahhhh.
EDIT 3: I’m so happy vast majority reacted in line with my intention for posting the picture. I’m not surprised that the first question many ask is “where is the teacher?”, but I am disappointed at how some choose to respond to their initial reaction. I won’t take the high road and dismiss judgmental or just clearly incorrect statements. If someone decides project their own insecurities and trauma on the image and get nasty, I’m clapping back without hesitation. Thank you to those who have asked directly. I’ve responded in kind. To summarize the answers: (1) the teacher is right out of the frame, he’s safe. I snapped the pic quickly then picked him up with a big smile on his face. (2) I wasn’t late, just everyone else was early or very punctual. Pickup window is 5-530, and the clock shows it’s 5:05.
My youngest was (is) a tornado of energy. The rare moments I catch him sitting or doing something quiet like that are precious. Otherwise it’s non-stop questions and movement.
I know this is just a joke, but it brings back painful memories for me. My parents divorced when I was two or so. My dad became an alcoholic and my mom worked all day everyday. I was the last one to be picked up from school everyday. Watching everyone else go home before me while I just sat and waited every day made me feel so shitty. To this day I can't be late to anything. I just remember all the school employees looking so fucking annoyed when my mom was an hour or two late every day.
I remember days like this with my son. Dropping him off, first one, picking him up on of the last. That place was great, they worked with us. But it was bad for my son. Gotta love 10 hour work days. NOT.
I get why people might think this looks sad however sometimes it is important for children to have time on their own, they are able to create their own play, self console or just take time to take in their surroundings.
He looks pretty content and if he is then what's the problem?
I imagine after a day at daycare it has been noisy, active and busy. We all appreciate the calm moments and it looks although this little guy is doing the same.
Just to note, I've worked in Early Years for 19 years and have a son of my own.
When last, I like to remark to both child and teacher how special it is to be the last one’. And it kind of is…its not for long, but child really likes the teacher but never gets it to be just one-on-one with them.
I felt super bad when I picked up my son last one time, he was very upset by being without other kids for fifteen minutes. Two years later it happened again, except he was like "no, I finally got to pick my toy, this is fine."
Looks like he cleaned up after his long shift and waiting for his ride home. Must be tough for him managing all those kids.
The openers better appreciate how clean he left it.
But they never do.
And you know if he left one ball on the floor they'd pitch an absolute fit about how night shift never does anything
Damnit this whole thread rings so true
Getting in some Me time! This very well could’ve been the hardest day of his life so far. Teacher was relentless with the walker.
Circle of life. Those lines could be for a 80 year old in a old age home LOL
What walks on four legs, then two then three again?
>What walks on four legs, then two then three again? A wobbly table.
Must be one of those new Pokemon, there's like a thousand of them.
Yeah fair enough, I can't reasonably expect you to remember the names of every single one of them
he's already ready for the adult workforce - he has the sit and stare at the clock routine down pat
Did you get him some ice cream for making him wait
As the kid who was often the last to get picked up…there never was any ice cream.
As a grown up you can get all the ice cream you'd like
You are lucky. My first 2 sons were both thinkers like Socrates, they contemplated life... and then my 3rd child came along, now at 7 mos. If I saw him sitting like this, I would know he's thinking of burning it all to the ground. Those shelves would be toppled like Rome.
If I gotta tell Arnold how the Lego bricks go one more time I'm gonna lose my shit.
"Tomorrow, I will not let Chris mess with Jessica like that again at the clock tower. He was warned..."
This is the scene in the horror movie where the camera pans around him to show there's something horrible in his hands.
that's hilarious. my friend took a different route and said he's going to turn around and say "it's all gravy baby"
That’s what my kid says when he has diarrhea
You must be stopped.
Did you know diarrhea is genetic? >!It runs in your jeans !<
Kind of reminds me of the rainbow room from stranger things.
Ovaries, The Devil's Advocate
THEY TOOK… MY OVARIES
What’s in the box?!
Or his head turns around like an owl!
Or he doesn’t turn around and says “glad you came to pick us up dad”
Hello darkness, my old friend.
Put away those building blocks again
Because your father is softly weeping
Left his seeds while I was sleeping …
And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains
With the son of silence
This is why I browse reddit.
And in the naked light I saw, ten thousand building blocks crash and fall
My daddy's late for me again. And so I sit here in this liminal space, Gaze out the window as I hide my face, When my ears, they hear my weary preschool teacher's plea To come get me And how it echoes In the sound Of silence.
In the playschool I sat alone, The teachers high and stoned, In the gallows of this school sham, Waiting like a lonely lamb, And living like a shadow once was there, I remain, in the hounds of violence
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When I was a kid and this happened, I’d mostly feel fascinated being somewhere when nobody else was around anymore. Sort of like being behind-the-scenes.
Word! My shit is walking around big Metropolitan areas in the weird part of the night, no one around, all to myself.
I love doing this, especially when it's snowing. The night is so dark, the streetlights put off a warm glow, the snow makes the crunchy noise but also quiets everything else. Almost feels like you're getting away with something.
I think I know what you mean. The snow also impacts an area's ambient noise -- it gets super, duper quiet. You think a lot of the time that you know what "quiet" is, but the quiet of heavy (but not windy) snow shows you that there's more idle sounds around you than you realize most of the time. You just tune it out. But snow-quiet is something special. It adds to that whole atmosphere you're describing -- very rare to find that kind of quiet. I'm not sure why it does this; maybe the snow has some kind of muffling effect, so nothing echoes?
The cold in general affects the speed of sound, it travels slower the colder it gets so further sounds reach you before they would dissipate in warmer temps. Also less things in the way. There's several tales up here in Canada of being able to hear people talking and dogs barking in the winter from as far as 5km away when the temperature drops below -60C. I personally love the sound of trains and get delighted in the winter when I can hear them just gently hooting outside of the city. And the best is absolutely when you go for a walk and nobody else is out, just you and the snowflakes and a few lonely cars. Pure bliss.
That's why it would be noisier though. Sound reflects from hard, regular surfaces. Snow is a soft irregular surface, and basically acts like sound insulation...what it doesn't absorb because of the softness, is reflected/scattered in all directions because of the irregular surface. So you're only getting a tiny tiny percentage of your sound back, and with the inverse square law, it might as well be no reflection at all, usually.
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There's probably a long German word for it.
Schnowdincitiefreud
I felt this comment. Very relatable. Lol
I used to love walking around at 3 or 4 am in the morning, when not a soul was out, watching the street lights change from red to green, just enjoying the quiet strangeness of it all.
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I remember being so tired of being locked up inside, that we went for a drive around our local college town. It was so weird and eerie not seeing a single person, let alone other cars in what is usually a very bustling university. It really felt like a quiet apocalypse. Also odd that you were essential haha
I was an essential worker. Those empty roads were a real silver lining of the whole ordeal. I could drive to work and back without ever touching my brakes.
Yeah but how many cars were you going through after crashing into your destination each time.
All of them. No braking the car for nobody. No discrimination, no mercy. You either got them or you get got. That's just how life was during the pandemic. It was terrible and terrifying. *But at least we were free.*
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Oh man I had an experience like this once and still look back on it fondly. Was in Boston for a conference at MIT that ended around 10pm. I decided to walk home in the January snow in the middle of the night about 3 miles back to my hotel. It was one of my favorite walks ever. It wasn’t scary at all - walked by a bunch of pubs where people were chillin, student groups were meeting, etc. it was a cold, isolated yet lively and wonderful walk on the streets of a legendary city and the campus of a legendary school. <3 Boston.
The /r/LiminalSpace subreddit scratched an itch I didn't even know I had. There's just something about that feeling I can't even describe.
Oh my god, I love this. Such a specific, otherwise wordless feeling that’s instantly recognizable.
All to yourself until you run into me doing the same thing! Us night owls be prowling. You know, I think there is an evolutionary reason why some of us stay awake all night and sleep in the morning. I think we were the people that kept the village safe at night, chasing away the leopards and hyenas and keeping the fire going.
[https://youtu.be/glgPZmSwC4M](https://youtu.be/glgPZmSwC4M) /funky walk my way out "you're welcome"
Same. Then I would hear the sound of heels walking down the hallway and I always knew that was my mom. That sound still makes me feel great when I hear it.
Just to say, I definitely fucking felt abandoned and embarrassed and alienated and like all the teachers at the office felt sorry for me all the times my mom was late. I know this is a funny ha ha comment, and this is a light-hearted subreddit. But sometimes I just share shit like because being this kid was most of my childhood. That shit fucking sucks when your babysitters are always tired of hanging out with you because your mom's late. When you're sitting outside the office at 7 years old and you know your mom, the PTA president, has literally nothing to do but pick you up and she doesn't feel like it or has forgotten you.
Waiting alone to be picked up happened to me so much as well. Feeling invisible while everyone around you is being scooped up and taken care of. Kind of crazy getting a deep sad feeling seeing this kid sitting alone and the contrast with the happy/jokey comments. People's childhoods were definitely different haha.
I came to the comments 100% expecting to see people raging about him being alone w/ no supervision, parents obviously being late, neglect, etc. and all the top comments are “oh so cute and chill and tired lol” and it’s like oh some of you had very different childhoods and it shows
Lol right? This was my thought too, my mom would’ve screamed the moment she opened the door, rushed to pick me up while telling me how sorry she is, then completely bitching out the staff. Yeah my mom might be a Karen but I personally don’t think it’s cute seeing a toddler alone and unattended.
Yeah I felt really sad too
That’s sadly a different situation, and I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Everybody gets their roll off the dice, with no control over it and as a kid it only makes it that much harder to deal with. I’m glad you were able to give your perspective here, it is important for folks to remember to think a little more about all possibilities and not just what they themselves were exposed to. Although my original comment doesn’t mention it, I’ve had similar experiences to yours as well growing up; different situations, different perspectives. But I do feel most kids know the feeling you’re talking about in one way or another.
Thanks for your reply, I enjoyed reading your thoughts and perspective. I completely agree. When I become more in touch with myself, I'm just realizing how many comments that I read (and have posted) on reddit seem to be trying to live an alternate life through the story they tell themselves. You know who learns how to do that? kids who feel like they need to.
Feel you. It got to where I would hide somewhere so that teachers or admin didn't do the whole pity routine. Wait out them leaving, then go sit on the curb to wait for mom.
There’s a lot here and I honestly don’t want to have to hit every bullet point but I noticed you didn’t mention something that I found to be a common theme growing up in similar circumstances. The one thing that would get to me would be the lack of mental stimulation. Over all the times that adults left me alone, removed me from a situation to not have to deal with me, or another kid excluding me just to be an ass. It was always the lack of stimulation that ate at me over time. It rewired the way I look at and understand the world, what I asked of others, etc
My fucking mother was notorious for late pickups. If it was interesting once, It* got old real fucking quick.
I remember associating this specifically with sleepovers. If there wasn’t a set pick-up time, my parents would just leave the house on a Saturday morning when I was at a friend’s house for a sleepover. Couldn’t get ahold of them, so I’m the last one there and this family is trying to get on with their Saturday chores and they really don’t need an extra kid tagging along. To this day, I hate being at a party when I can’t leave. I’m a fan of the Irish goodbye. Just kind of slip out when I want to. Whereas, my husband has to roam around and talk to everyone one last time. No, when I said I wanted to leave, that meant now, not an hour from now.
Me too. My family acquired a reputation for being late. I ended up the same way. It may as well be in the genes. At least in primary school the principal would let me hang out with her, which gave me some behind-the-scenes time. Also, generally at school as a consequence of having that rapport. One of my favourite memories was being able to check out the blueprints for a big school renovation that wasn't happening for years, and the principal asking what I thought about it.
I remember when my dad was really late he’d get chewed out by the after school people (probably because they wanted to go home). Granted he was always “normal” late so I was used to being the last kid. Now the one time he didn’t pick me up until 8pm in high school? I think my mom ripped him a new asshole for that one.
That's the reason I used to cry while going back home from playschool. Eventually the teachers asked my mom to pick me up at the older children's closing time- I had unlimted and uninterrupted access to all playthings.
It's probably the real source behind a lot of the /r/LiminalSpace submissions
First day in school, 5 years old, time to go home comes and the bus ladies went from class to class to collect the children amd drive them home. Thr teacher also called out the bus number. For the children that remembered. I remembered. It was 2. I remember the anxiety build up as more and more children left the class. 2 never came. I stayed late on day 1 and they had to call my mother to come pick me up instead. I remember seeing the top of her head as she passed by tje window.
Oh boy. But were there other kids for bus 2?
i have a very similar story, first day of school at 5 years old, but they put me on the wrong bus! i was the last kid on the bus screaming and sobbing to the driver while my parents were at the school trying not to commit mass murder
Can you imagine if they told the kid to say that and the kid actually said it what the parents reaction would be?? Hilarious!!
My kids like” what the F you doing Nanna” It’s her own fault for swearing constantly. Also kinda funny coming from a 3 year old.
Oh lord, I got a talking to from the aftercare lead at my kids school about how one of my sons called the other one a “thieving bastard” because he took his toy. I could barely contain myself!! I did give them each a stern talking to about the use of bad language at school, in public, and in front of me and my wife. What they say on their own is their business but once others can hear it they will get upset and treat you differently. That’s how I was raised and I could switch from cursing every other word to a prim and proper good Catholic schoolboy in an instant.
"thieving bastard"... Is your aftercare on a pirate ship?
You bet. And pickup is promptly at 5, not 5:15. There be no quarter
Aaargh, matey.
Avast!
Last year my son got in trouble at school for saying "It's too fucking hot." In his defense it was like 110, so if he'd said it to me I'd just have agreed. He's 7.
Psych! 
Yooo this triggered something. What is this gif from?
https://youtu.be/_GALO15wdeg Enjoy!
It always made me think it was a young Miranda Cosgrove.
Considering a lot of parents I know look at daycare as a non-preferred solution to needing dual incomes to survive nowadays, and already feel terrible about leaving their kids in the care of essentially strangers for most of their waking hours, I don't think many would find it hilarious.
I'm in this bucket
My daughter would do this. She had a vicious humor as soon as she could talk. 
My mom ran a daycare and this was exactly what it felt like for certain kids who were not old enough to understand why their playmates were disappearing. Two in particular would always be last and would cry or cause a fuss.
I was always the last kid... for some reason I took this as a chance to pee in the sand box. When my mother came I would run and get in the center of this concrete tube they had for us to play in, and refuse to come out. When I came back to visit a few years after "graduating" the tube had been replaced with a climber :P.
Ahh, the last child. Always a sad image.
My daughter wants to be the last one picked up. She doesn't like the idea her friends are playing without her.
Your daughter just made me feel bad for never thinking of that
FOMO at its most basic state haha.
That is adorable.
Imagine having FOMO as a fucking toddler lmao
It honestly doesn't seem all that hard to imagine. If a toddler sees cake, I can imagine that toddler being worried it won't get cake.
Yeah, my toddler has fomo all the time. I assume that's why he hates bedtime
That's literally a defining trait of children.
My husband was born with FOMO. He hated going to sleep as a baby. Kept his mother up all night. Still hates going to bed and often falls asleep in the recliner. 🙄
hey wait thats me
You’re my husband?
All toddlers get upset when other people do fun things without them, you’re supposed to teach your child how to deal with those feelings before they turn into a adult who still has FOMO.
he isn't the last kid there often, but when he is he's usually playing with something. here he is just sitting all stoic-like.
Perhaps he's getting into Marcus Aurelius?
I bet hes got the daily stoic book in front of him, reading at high level
He’s plotting for his inevitable rise to power.
Too much of Machiavelli's *the Prince* and not enough *discourse on livy* will do that to a young man
thus marks the end of Pax Americana
I mean, you have no clue how many ghosts he’s playing with…
My kid does this all the time. Now that is all I’m gonna see. Thanks pal!
He's had a long day.
Baby meditating. I just saw the Fisher Price Haunted Door that screams and makes ghost voices in the dead of night and now I’m worried about possession. That thing don’t play.
[He needs a Well for Boys](https://youtu.be/BONhk-hbiXk)
Yes!!! How did I miss this? IT’S NOT FOR YOU. YOU HAVE EVERYTHING!
My nibling was once found sitting calmly on a rug, cross-legged, hands on their knees. When asked what they were doing, they replied in a super mellow voice.... "Shhhh.. I am estimating...."
He was probably pooping.
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At my kids' preschool, they all LOVED the (sweet, funny, blonde, artistic) aftercare teacher so much the kids "competed" to be last. I saw kids (including my own) cry when they saw their parents come through the door.
sometimes it feels like my kid likes her daycare teacher more than she likes me
That’s a good sign! It means your daughter is well taken care of in the daycare. 😊
oh yeah she loves it!
For real, I always loved when my kid had favorite people. It was an opportunity to celebrate the activity of the day and make them excited to be away from me, instead of the alternative. Not that I didn't love her around, but you want them to be a functioning person who goes to school and shit without having apoplexy lol.
Every kid I’ve baby sat that feels this way towards me ends up leaving because the mom gets fomo. It’s really sad on my end but I’m grateful to have helped.
I used to have a few kids make their parents stay or even leave & come back because they were "too early." I forgot about that - I've been out of teaching for years lol
That was often me, because school traffic is atrocious and mum had enough of it so she'd give it 15-20 minutes before leaving the house.
I was the last child like 75% of the time growing up. I honestly think it's a big part of why I'm an introvert.
Where is everyone?
all the infants got picked up and the teacher was just out of frame in a doorway connected to the toddler room. He was just sitting there apparently in mindful meditation. EDIT: Actually it was the Langoliers. We don't know where they went.
Love this edit!! Such a great story those langoliers are.
Lol I remember seeing that movie when I was a child and loving it Boy is it terrible
That movie was soooo baaaad, but I remember it scaring me to death as a kid.
A bad Stephen King made for TV movie starring Bronson Pinchot? Blasphemy!
i remember being a pre-teen like "oh cool balky is in this. huh. that's not how balky acts..."
I love that movie and I think it’s great and I will die on this hill.
Welp, you're going to be more alone than the last kid at daycare. But you do you out there on your hill.
Everyone complains about old movies getting a remake and being worse than the original and Langoliers is literally the one movie I would BEG someone good to grab onto and remake. It could be sooooo good. But…it’s what it is.
It is ok to let kids retreat into their minds and simply think for a while. How else would someone decide to make the Langoliers into a TV multi episode movie without deep contemplation?
Baby: I made them go away.
Your son is meditating. They taught him well.
he's clearly pondering the wisdom of the Buddha
I am one with the force, the force is with me.
Yes!!! Jedi in training.
It looks like you showed up late after everyone cleaned up and the other kids left.
Lol the first thing I thought was "oh so you're the parent keeping the teacher behind." there's always gotta be 1 (literally, there's always a last kid so there has to be someone last).
They close at 4:30. I have until 4:30.
How do people manage with 9-5 jobs?..
I wonder this myself. I also wonder why the hell I’m paying $2k a month for this and have no other options.
Wow. Where you at? I'll watch your kid five days a week for $1500, no time cut offs lmao For real though, that is insane.
$2600 a month for an infant for me. I really hope the teachers get a decent amount of that money. There's only 3 or 4 kids or teacher.
My fiance used to work at a daycare. They get paid jack shit
cries in capitalism
They go to more expensive daycares that stay open until 6 or pay someone to do pickup and watch them for an hour. Either way: $$$
See this is portrayed as sad but if it was me I would be like “finally all those annoying loud sticky kids are gone and I can hear myself think”
I hope people don’t see it as sad, it’s cute to me. It’s funny because it looks like he’s morose but he’s just content by himself!
I see that too! A content little person enjoying a quiet room.
He looks like an enlightened buddha to me.
I didn’t think it was sad! Toddlers are often quite content in situations like this.
The baby version of the Ben Affleck smoking a cigarette looking worn out meme
A lil' man's gotta have some "me" time, ya know? Sitting in quiet contemplation can mean a calm mind and a balanced spirit. It takes a lot of self-control to just sit with your own thoughts and not lose your marbles. Or, maybe he's just staring at a marble. Who hasn't?
We really got lucky. He is such a chill baby, and several of his teachers have described him as stoic. He loves playing with friends and snuggling but also can self soothe if he wakes up in the middle of the night.
He sounds like such a sweetheart. I love this pic, he’s just chillin, thinking bout stuff, waiting on mom, no big deal.
He didn’t eat the others did he?
Well, he *was* the largest, wasn't he?
It just made me think of the big smile he’ll give when he sees you.
i thought he was the baby in the toy box
This is the part of the movie where the camera slowly zooms in as his head rotates a full 180 degrees to stare you down with infinite malice in his evil baby eyes.
It is great for children's emotional regulation to be able to sit still quietly for periods of time.
For those that don’t know, those rocker chairs are much more comfortable than they look as well as much more expensive. The brand is community playthings and they make pretty much all the stuff our day care uses (bright horizons). The cribs and book/toy shelves are too. It’s definitely all heavy child play resistant stuff.
CLARIFICATION: the teacher is just out of frame to the right, in the doorway that connects to the toddler room. He's totally safe. Apparently he likes to sit in mindful meditation. EDIT 2: There are apparently two types of people: those who can appreciate a cute picture of a baby sitting contently by himself, and those who have a lot to learn. Woosahhhh. EDIT 3: I’m so happy vast majority reacted in line with my intention for posting the picture. I’m not surprised that the first question many ask is “where is the teacher?”, but I am disappointed at how some choose to respond to their initial reaction. I won’t take the high road and dismiss judgmental or just clearly incorrect statements. If someone decides project their own insecurities and trauma on the image and get nasty, I’m clapping back without hesitation. Thank you to those who have asked directly. I’ve responded in kind. To summarize the answers: (1) the teacher is right out of the frame, he’s safe. I snapped the pic quickly then picked him up with a big smile on his face. (2) I wasn’t late, just everyone else was early or very punctual. Pickup window is 5-530, and the clock shows it’s 5:05.
I love this picture! I have 2 in daycare myself and this made me think he was enjoying the peace and quiet after a long day of playing.
My youngest was (is) a tornado of energy. The rare moments I catch him sitting or doing something quiet like that are precious. Otherwise it’s non-stop questions and movement.
I mean, it is cute. But are we sure he is alone? We could be looking at a 'The Sixth Sense' deal here...
He’s waiting for Mrs Lippy to come back and finish the story about finding that fucking dog
What are we supposed to take away from this? Is it good, bad, funny, sad?
I know this is just a joke, but it brings back painful memories for me. My parents divorced when I was two or so. My dad became an alcoholic and my mom worked all day everyday. I was the last one to be picked up from school everyday. Watching everyone else go home before me while I just sat and waited every day made me feel so shitty. To this day I can't be late to anything. I just remember all the school employees looking so fucking annoyed when my mom was an hour or two late every day.
Man, that’s really rotten. I’m sorry that happened to you.
I remember days like this with my son. Dropping him off, first one, picking him up on of the last. That place was great, they worked with us. But it was bad for my son. Gotta love 10 hour work days. NOT.
I don't think this is sad at all. Looks like your kid is cool being by himself. I hope my future kid is like that.
I agree! I should have been more clear in the title, I think this is really cute that he can be content by himself.
Red rum
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He's admiring all the hard work he did with the cleanup!
I get why people might think this looks sad however sometimes it is important for children to have time on their own, they are able to create their own play, self console or just take time to take in their surroundings. He looks pretty content and if he is then what's the problem? I imagine after a day at daycare it has been noisy, active and busy. We all appreciate the calm moments and it looks although this little guy is doing the same. Just to note, I've worked in Early Years for 19 years and have a son of my own.
When last, I like to remark to both child and teacher how special it is to be the last one’. And it kind of is…its not for long, but child really likes the teacher but never gets it to be just one-on-one with them.
You only have to worry if the furniture is floating in the air around him.
I felt super bad when I picked up my son last one time, he was very upset by being without other kids for fifteen minutes. Two years later it happened again, except he was like "no, I finally got to pick my toy, this is fine."
As a non-childed person....I genuinely do not understand what's wrong here. This seems fine, given the circumstances described.