My baby started kindergarten this year (I’m not gonna cry as I write this. I’m not, I’m not, I’m not.)
She’s the youngest of our four kids, and she was beside herself, she was so excited to be a student at the school she’s been visiting since she was in the womb.
She’s so excited, she’s actually walking on air…
So now that I’ve walked four kids through starting kindergarten, I’ve realized there are things I wish I’d known all along. I thought I’d share them with you, and hopefully save you from some of the worries I’ve had over the years.
1.) I know they’re going to be a mess. Every day for at least the first week, and usually more like two weeks, my kids were a mess when I picked them up. Cranky. Argumentative. Tired. Crying over nothing. It doesn’t matter that I followed everything The Experts tell you to do to get your kids ready for school. It doesn’t matter that we moved bedtimes up well beforehand to get plenty of rest. It doesn’t even matter that they’ve done all this before in preschool.
They’re excited and nervous. They’re learning new routines and new people and new rules and even adjusting to a new bathroom procedure. It’s a lot to process, and by the time they get home, even after just a half-day of kindergarten, they’re fried. The only thing I know to do is make sure they get some downtime in their rooms where it’s quiet, try our best to stick to a schedule, and ride it out. If it makes you feel any better, often kids are on their best behavior at school and wait to fall apart until they’re home where it’s safe. Lucky you.
2.) I don’t obsess about the teacher. If your school is anything like ours, and I’m guessing it is because Human Nature, there’s a grapevine. We talk amongst ourselves about the teachers everyone wants to get and why. And you can get really wrapped up in that stuff if you let yourself. It’s not worth it.
My mother, who’s a retired kindergarten teacher from a high-performing school in the Silicon Valley, told me the most important thing a teacher can do for that age is get kids to love going to school. In a pinch, we can work with our kids at home to teach them to read and write and those sorts of skills. But the one thing we can’t do is give them a school experience they love. If your teacher is doing that, don’t drive yourself crazy over the rest (disclaimer: most teachers I know go so far above and beyond this it’s ridiculous, and they work so many more hours than we see them work at school. We should all just hug a teacher and stop worrying.)
3.) I know my strengths. By now, I know what I’m good at and what I’m not. I’m a terrible room mother. I just am. You know what I’m good at, though? Being a Girl Scout Daisy leader. And I’m finally finally at a point where I feel okay saying “no” sometimes when I’m asked to volunteer. It’s taken me years. I’ve had to rehearse in my head. Maybe you need to practice in a mirror. But I now know it’s better to do one thing well than a bunch of things half-assed.
4.) I know that if I screw everything else up, read to my kids. I can’t explain how I taught my kids to read. I don’t really know. But the one thing we did, every night we possibly could, was read together. I’m going to forget to turn in papers and permission slips. Someone’s going to accidentally wear sandals instead of sneakers on P.E. day. We’re going to argue right before I send them in to class (oops. Already happened. This morning.) But reading seems to be the key to so much success in school and if we can establish a time where we do it together, it makes lots of other things go smoother. And besides the learning-thing, we get some cuddle time. Win-win.
Do you have any back to school tips? I’d love to hear them!
CommentsPhotos courtesy Laura Falin
For more kids’ activities and easy recipes, you can find Laura at Peace but not Quiet, and on facebook and Pinterest.
