Well folks, it’s come and gone already, the milestone of
sending the first born off to Kindergarten.
And we survived it. We did more
than survive it, we rocked it. I was
almost creating a pshychosomatic response to the event based on the horrors
that I’ve heard but when it came down to it, we’ve already been thru the “new
experience” phase with Luke so many times that no drama was needed. I think the reason it went so smoothly was
because Luke was so excited to go to school and he’s been in school for 2 years
already, this was just a new school. Now maybe if he hadn’t already done 2 years
of pre-school and a full summer of off-site day camp (complete with bus riding)
things might have been different but Luke is used to this sort of thing. I’m used to this sort of thing. We’ve
exposed our little offspring to multiple life experiences and changes in their
young lives and I really do think it improves their adapting skills. A new bus?
New friends? A new classroom with
new books, toys, art supplies? A new
playground? These are exciting things to
a 5 year old.
It also helped that the school and Ms. Tantillo, his teacher
did a nice job of distracting both parents and children alike from thinking
that they were about to be separated.
Luke and I walked into his classroom and were given a handout with 6
tasks that needed to be completed – each one taking at least 10 minutes and by
the time we completed them, it already felt like we knew the classroom. He was happily playing with 2 other boys and
the teacher building something out of blocks when I was exiting the room. He was happy to give me a kiss and a hug and
send me on my way so he could discover all that his classroom had to
offer. So far, he loves school. And the cutest thing – he came home with an
art project based of the Kissing Hand book for us and his teacher had given him
a Hershey kiss - she clearly knows the
way to a Kindergartener’s heart!
Two nights ago I was putting Luke to down to sleep for the
night and we were talking about school and he asked when he gets to go to
college. Let’s get thru Kindergarten first pal, this momma will never be ready
for you to go to college. I’ll have to
reread this entry again in 13 years when the event comes to see if I still feel
the same way…hehe J And another quick thought about this – yes,
people get emotional about sending their child off to Kindergarten because it
does “bookmark” and highlight the fact that they are getting older and farther
away from babyhood and also that you are getting older. But you know what – I
have this feeling every.single.day of my life.
Every time he learns something new, every time he wants to do something
on his own that I used to do for him, and the list goes on. So maybe I’m different, I torture myself and
carpe diem every day, not just the day he goes to Kindergarten.
