Judy: Thank you so much, Judy! It’s so true. There was a little girl in my daughter’s class who cried for the first week of Kinder. Endless tears on that one. Come the third week of school, she never wanted to leave. Early to class and always wanted to stay late.

I too love seeing the first yellow of September. : > )

Friar:

The first day of school
It isn’t cool.
Half of the kids are all drowning in drool.

Only up to our waste
And most eating paste
(Though between that and markers it has the best taste)

The quiet is nice
Though all pay the price
When my youngest comes home with a full head of lice.

Denguy: Exactly! Part of me wants to kick up my heels, and the other bury my face under a pillow. : > )

Dave: Thanks, my man. I never get tired of hearing it.

Laurie: Of all the grades Cindy has taught, Kinder has definitely been her favorite. There’s just something so undaunted in a kindergartner’s spirit. If only we could capture it forever. But then again, it would cease being special.

I loved your story. Thanks!

Leslie: Ah, Leslie… a face I know in real life!!! I’ll tell little “Max” what you said. Thanks for the compliment!

I taught kinder for 5 years. LOVED IT! I have enough kinder stories to write a book. One day I had a conference with a mom. She began by letting me in on something her daughter had told her I said in class. I can’t remember what it was but I remember it was ridiculous none the less. Without responding to her revelation, I told her that her daughter told me that her husband sleeps naked every night. Her Mom, shocked, replied with certainty, “He does not!” I said, “Well, how about I don’t believe everything she tells me about you and you don’t believe everything she tell you about me.” The mom went for that without hesitation.

Enjoy these moments! They pass so fast.

But if you want a decent job, not greeting at Wall-Mart
You need a degree, it’ll make you smart.

“How much school then?”, you’ll ask, to calm your fears.
And Dad will tell you: “Son, sixteen more years.”

Enjoy it now, while you’re an apt bright pupil.
You have the rest of your life, to work in a cubicle.

:-D

Sounds like you have instilled just the right level of confidence in your little one.

I think back on those first days now with fondness. Moms and dads with video cameras to capture the excitement. Kids with different emotions, from nervous to exhilarated to abject fright. The “helicopter parents” hovering, the separation anxiety, sometimes felt by the little one, sometimes by the parent, often by both.

But we all made it through that first day and, funny thing, sometimes the kid who was most frightened didn’t want to leave when the three-o-clock bell rang!

What a delightful poem. Thanks for sharing. I still feel a tinge of nostalgia and longing when I see that first big yellow school bus of the year. God bless our kids and teachers.

To be honest I never thought how my mom felt about sending us to school. I was too wrapped up in my own excitement of starting school ( I was one of those crazy kids who loved school) to wonder how she felt. Though I realized that waking us up at 5 45, preparing our breakfast, and packing our lunch wasn’t a piece of cake for her – considering we were 4 school going kids!