The First Day

The day finally came that I’ve been dreading:  Kindergarten.  We dropped Honeybun off this morning for her first day (and were nearly late).  The teacher showed her the morning routine of putting her folder in the basket (with the papers I forgot to fill out still in it), her backpack and lunch box in her cubby and taking her seat.

As we left the teacher handed us an poem and instructed us not to read it until the end of the hallway as it might make us cry.  Well, I did tear up reading the sweet poem:

 After reading this, and fighting back the tears (because I didn’t want to be THAT mommy), everything suddenly made sense.  All the obsessing I’ve been doing over class placement and uniforms and supply shopping and sack lunches (which the past few weeks has become my main worry) hasn’t really been about any of that.  What really worries me is giving up control of her character and moral development and entrusting that to a stranger.  I’m worried about the influence of the other children and whether or not the teacher and school will reinforce what we believe in as a family. I’m not really worried about her academics, I know she will learn what she needs to know academically anywhere she is but I want to make sure she is also learning important life skills and how to be a good person.

We chose to opt out of the uniform requirement because we want to teach our children independent thinking as well as how to make good decisions (by picking appropriate clothes).  I’m choosing to send sack lunches instead of buying hot because we want to teach our children about making healthful decisions, eating well and also not to be wasteful by using reusable containers and sending things I know she likes and will not throw away.  I want her to learn what it is to be a responsible, respectful, honest and good person.