Is that clear to everyone?!

Or why my daughter sometimes doesn’t understand *Yeralash*.

At last the time has come when I can watch the wonderful sketches from this children’s programme with my eldest daughter, Ksyusha. Yes, it’s sometimes difficult to explain things related to the peculiarities of one period or another in Russia’s complex modern history, but there are things which, for all their apparent simplicity, my daughter doesn’t understand at all, and which make me reflect deeply on what sort of school I went to…

To be serious, teachers who make children not want to go to school should not be allowed anywhere near a school. It is a pedagogical failure, a complete professional failure. It wasn’t easy for my daughters to start school. As home-schooled girls, they found it very hard to be separated from their mum. And I was struck by the amount of care and sensitivity shown towards my children at the English school (ISOP – International School of Paphos). ‘The most important thing is that we mustn’t let children be afraid of school, or make them not want to go’ – this was the central idea; we were constantly reminded of it, and given advice on how to communicate effectively with the children. Now it’s all behind us. And Ksyusha genuinely couldn’t get her head round this whole situation. How could anyone not want to go to school? And it’s not just about the teachers’ professionalism and good manners. It’s about the overall atmosphere at the school, the spirit of mutual understanding, love and support. My daughter recently had scarlet fever. She was off school for over a week.

Of course, I went to the school to collect her homework, and on one such visit the teacher handed me a bundle of letters: ‘These are for Ksenia,’ she said with a smile. Eighteen letters in colourful envelopes. Eighteen messages written in children’s careful handwriting. Her classmates were cheering Ksenia up, wishing her a speedy recovery and, each in their own way, trying to lift her spirits. You should have seen the look on the girl’s face when I got home and placed the stack of envelopes in front of her. Ksenia wrote a reply that very same day, and the next morning I took the letter to school. This is private correspondence, and I cannot publish these letters online, but here are a few short excerpts… Why not? Just look at these lines, written from the heart by little ladies and gentlemen aged seven.