Part of my job is to go see all the local elementary schools so I know what to recommend to parents about their kids continuing education. Today I went on a tour of one of the local public schools. It was a great school. It emphasized the arts and parent involvement blah blah blah. During the whole tour I kept thinking Little B starts kindergarten next year....wait! Your not taking my little boy you vultures! He's my baby he's not going here! NO WAY!!! (He's actually not. Were not zoned for that school but you get the idea)
Little B has aways been by my side. I have always been the one responsible for his education. As the head of his school I could sneak in a hug or a kiss all day long. I've even wiped a butt or two during a normal school day. Walking those halls and imagining him there made me think of my own schools days.
(Scene goes up on little Suzie with a feathered Dorthy Hamel do wearing no name jeans and a paisley shirt made of some very scratchy material)
When I was a kid it was the 70's Fara was the rage and Brooke Shield's liked to wear her jeans naked. All the girl loved their designer jeans and their bonnie bell lip gloss. I was never into stuff like that. I like reading, singing to ABBA (It was the 70's OK?) and sneaking cigarettes on my families roof . I played cello. As I did not have a wide group of friends I named my cello Orville and used to put hats on him and talk to him on the school bus. (Oh yes I was a really popular gal). Instead of the children finding my quirks endearing they instead expressed their love of me through nailing during dodge ball in gym class and making me sit alone during lunch time.
I want my kids to be happy and to love school. I don't want them eating alone or being called stinky stinky Suzie (oh wait maybe that's my hang up). Maybe this is all my hang up kids need to be independent..right...they need to find their wings, soar to the sky, leave the nest, find their own kabob. But I'm not ready. I have more butts to wipe before my big boy opens his own pinata and becomes a little man. Ahhhh!!!!
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I think it's up to schools to have a zero tolerance policy for bullying, and then REALLY enforce it.
you better start shortening that apron string so when you have to cut it, it won't be so bad. its tough but unfortunately they grow up too fast.
Not to get too therapist-y on you (I'm not one, nor do I play one on tv) but it's often good for me to say to myself, "Self, this wonderful child of mine is not a reincarnation of me." He'll have different experiences than I did, and will go to a different kind of school, and has a different personality than I did. I had some rough school years, but for the most part, my kids have had a great experience!
By the way, I was also a ball magnet. I played violin--her name was Violet. (I was into alliteration! :) )
You're almost there. And you will know when it's time.
I'm not ready either. You can now give your children good advice. For starters - never talk to musical instruments in public. It universally frowned upon.
You're right about how personal it gets when we start thinking about where to send our kids to school. I've taught at several schools I thought were great until I had kids and then somehow it seemed so different!
And yes, I echo someone else who said a zero tolerance for bullying AND enforcing it.
Enjoy this time.
Take care,
Julie
My eldest is such a freaking social butterfly that I don't worry about her starting kindergarten next year.
But maybe you and I can cry over some virtual ice cream.
So, we have three kids. The first one - it was hard to send him to school. The second, our daughter - hard again. By the time the third got there - we were so ready for him to be off to school! For us, that third one has put us over the edge. It's interesting, I think, how our attitude changed from #1 to #3.
Good luck finding the school that works for you Suzie. We all want the best for our children, and can't always control who else will be in those schools with them...
that was really a sweet post. When I told my five year old I didn't want him to grow up, he said,"Well, you better start working on that time machine right now, cause I'm growin'."
I just walked in from taking my son on a college visit. I'm not ready for this either!
I know exactly how you are feeling. :( Fortunately they seem to do much better than we ever did in school. :)
oh, it's so hard letting them go. it still kills me every year when school starts. i can't believe i'm letting them go.
Ugh. I was one of those kids that got made fun of all the time in school. My fondest memories were when I was called "dyke" in high school. That was awesome.
I'm petrified at the thought that any child I bring into the world might have to endure it. I have no idea what I could ever say to them that would ease that pain.
I was also called names in high school. Some called me porky;( - I was really very insecured at that time, I think I still am.
Can't wait to go to school :D. Thanks for visiting my blog. See you again!
I would hang on to him, keep wiping his butt and kissing and cuddling him in public. That I am sure will make him the coolest teenager in the WORLD in the eyes of his peers! You go girl!
T x
Except for the cello, you pretty much described my school days!
That first kindergarten experience is a tough one, but you get through it.
I was picked on in school, and I pray every day that Bee escapes that. One day, right after school started, she dropped her Little Debbie cake on the lunchroom floor (it was still in the wrapper), and one of her classmates ran over and STEPPED on it, just to be mean.
I wanted to go to school and give that rotten kid a good swat on the butt!
I so feel ya and hope that this too shall pass...
sending them out into the big world is rough... especially for moms.
My "babies" are in second grade, and I remember that first day of kindergarten and how I worried about them all day... and how everything turned out fine. It's not easy letting go. I'm still trying! But you have a little while yet.
I'm thankful every day that my kids are definitely better people than me. And, as I'm sure yours are, they are absolutely their own people.
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