ON THE JOB IN HOPEWELL VALLEY
By:John Tredrea
When the coming May turns to June, Lorraine Rabel will retire from the job she’s held for 25 years, at the Little Leisure preschool in St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Pennington.
"I’m going to miss them," Ms. Rabel said of her young charges. "I enjoy being with young children. Once they get to know you, they trust you and give you a lot of love. My daughter, Susan Rabel, went to preschool here at Little Leisure. She’s 30 years old now."
It was in 1976, when Susan was 5 years old, that her mother heard of a job opening at Little Leisure. "A neighbor of mine told me about it," Ms. Rabel recalled. "They needed someone one day a week. I jumped at it because it was a job that would let me be at home after school and during the summer."
Hired at Little Leisure, her job soon grew to the five-day-a-week status it’s held since. "I’m doing eight sessions a week now," she said. "Morning sessions go from 9:15 to 12:15, afternoon sessions from 1:15 to 3:30. Then we have cleanup."
Visited by the HVN on Feb. 1, Ms. Rabel and her students soon would be baking groundhog cookies. "Tomorrow’s the big day for Mr. Groundhog, right?" she said. "We’ll get back to the cookies as soon as we finish this story. It’s called ‘Bundle Up.’ We have a story every day. Kids still love the one about the Three Little Pigs, and about Goldilocks and the Three Bears."
It was clear the children at Little Leisure care very much for Ms. Rabel. Singly and in small groups, they were continually coming to her for a bit of conversation or some support, especially a hug. It seemed like the veteran preschool teacher almost always had a carried or half-carried, if Ms. Rabel was seated youngster’s arms wrapped around her neck.
"They’re all little loves," she said. "They’re ‘my munchkins.’ That’s what I call them. They keep you young. When you’re with them, your own age is something that never comes to mind."
Ms. Rabel said it’s been some time now since she started her second generation of students at Little Leisure. "The parents of two of the students I have this year are former students of mine," she said. "Every year, I always look at the pictures of the graduating high school class to see how many of them were kids I had here at St. Matthew’s. There’s usually quite a few."
Travel with her husband Ronald is on Ms. Rabel’s agenda after she retires this spring. "We’ll go to Florida next winter," she said. "I’ll do some volunteer work here at home, too. And I’ve already told the parents here that I’ll be available for baby-sitting jobs, so they can take care of things like doctor’s and dentist’s appointments."
In addition to traveling, the Rabels will continue going to see the Trenton Titans hockey team and Trenton Thunder baseball team. "We have season tickets for both teams," she said. "We love it. We go to some away games, too. We’re going to see the Titans in Johnston, Pa. this weekend."
Asked to reflect on what she’s learned about children from two and a half decades of working with, and for, them, Ms. Rabel said. "I think children are a lot smarter than some people give them credit for. That includes kids who don’t talk a lot. There have been some changes, though. Nowadays, children are much more sophisticated than they used to be, it seems to me. They’re exposed to so much more now, what with computers and video games and all the different things on TV and in the movies. Being more sophisticated and confident, they want to know the reason for everything. They’re always asking ‘why?’ And you better have a reason ready when they do," she concluded with a knowing smile, her eyes flashing with affection and amusement.