WASILLA -- Ask Verna Euwer about raising children and be prepared to sit awhile.
For 45 years, the owner of Children's House preschool and day care in Palmer has played second mom to enough Valley tots to populate a small town. But this month, barring someone stepping forward to take it over, she plans to shutter her business, a Palmer institution started in 1964.
Euwer hasn't lost any of her love for children, her pleasure in watching them learn or her confidence in her time-tested beliefs about how to raise them.
But at a certain advanced age when some of her peers are in retirement homes, the former Iowa farm girl who wanted to be teacher since she was 7 has finally decided to hang up her hat.
That doesn't mean you can't get her going with a few pointed questions about parenting, or the toys she has in her preschool like the well-worn solid maple jungle gym that dates back more than 30 years. Euwer, who has degrees in psychology and education, recently sat down in the second-story classroom at the school to talk about her experiences and share some parenting advice honed by years of child care.
Q. So how many kids have you taught over the years?
A. Oh my goodness. It varies. ... I would probably say about 60 a year.
Q. So 45 years times 60 kids a year, that would be about 2,700?
A. There's probably a lot more than that. There's also part-time children. It's almost impossible to count.
Q. So you've had generations come through?
A. Oh yes, parents come back and say, 'I came here and now here's my child.' The strangest thing is the fact that most of the ones that come back, the first thing they say when they step into this big play room is 'Oh my, that's such a small jungle gym. What did you do, cut it down?'
Q. And do you see similarities between parents and children. Do you ever think, 'Uh oh, another Bobbie?'
A. (She laughs) I never judge a child like that. I never do. A child is what it is.
Q. You have what some people might call an old-fashioned approach. There's no fancy toys, a lot of your toys are blocks, wooden riding toys, puzzles. There's also no television or video games.
A. That's just because I know what TV does to children. Children learn best through interactive play. Television monopolizes their attention without providing the active involvement so important during the preschool years. That was my philosophy in even opening a preschool in the first place. It's the most important part of their life. I always felt my niche in my life would be preschool or teaching fifth grade.
Q. You use the Montessori approach. What attracted you to that?
A. It's a hands-on program. It involves the five senses, and that's how you learn, everything is through the five senses. ... (However) I intertwine Montessori philosophy in a way with some direction, rather than just letting the child be free all the time. For example, we have a motor-coordination program (she mentions a variety of physical activities such as walking on a balance beam, jumping over a towel on the floor, hitting a swinging ball).
Q. You frequently say that you're not teaching. What do you mean by that?
A. I'm not trying to pour knowledge into their head. They have to put it there themselves. I'm not going to say you learn this. You learn your numbers. They learn the numbers themselves.
Q. And part of that learning is through the toys?
A. We do not have mechanical toys. They need to use their minds. You may say these are old-fashioned toys, but you always see them playing.
Q. How did you end up in Palmer?
A. My husband and I were teaching with the Bureau of Indian Affairs before Alaska was a state. We liked it and we went Outside and we decided to come back again. We went to Nome, and then we found an opening that was not as far away so we came to Palmer.
Q. What was Palmer like when you started? (Children's House opened in 1964, and moved to its current location on West Eagle Street just off the Glenn Highway in 1967).
A. There were no paved roads and you would get stuck on the road out here.
(Also) When I began, most of my children were kindergarten age. Because we did not have kindergarten in the public school (then) and that was the big push. That was all I had. I did not do (day) care.
Q. What's the most difficult thing to deal with in children?
A. I think it's working with children who do not have a good attention span. That is very difficult. But this (she references an exercise where kids have to sort objects into jars by letter) also helps with attention span because they must concentrate until they finish. They can't say they can't do it and put it away. We'll help them go through it and then we'll try again. ... That's how you build attention span
Q. Any you thought, "Woo, this one is going to a challenge?"
A. (Big laugh) I mean, the first couple weeks, phew. But if you use the proper discipline. I still say (Dr. Rudolf) Dreikurs' theory on children. I never read better on how to handle children. It's just so common sense.
Q. What one piece of advice would you give to parents about raising children?
A. It would be read the book by Dreikurs.
Q. What kind of response have you gotten to your decision to retire?
A. They can't understand why I'm doing it until I tell them, 'You just do not realize how old I am.' So when I tell them that and they find out how old I am, they say, 'Congratulations, you've done a great job.'
Q. How old are you?
A. I'm 81, I'm going to be 82 in a few months. ... I just decided when I couldn't get up from the floor, spring up like I used to. I noticed that happening a little bit, and ... it's time to end it.
Q. When is your last day?
A. It will be June 30.
Q. What do you think you'll miss the most?
A. Being with the children. That's what I'm really going to miss. I go down every day and we talk and do things together. Just not being around the children.
Find S.J. Komarnitsky at adn.com/contact/skomarnitsky or 352-6714.
By S.J. KOMARNITSKY
skomarnitsky@adn.com