I took my baby to kindergarten yesterday morning (long)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Mini-Marli has been looking forward to kindergarten for months, bouncing around chattering happily about all the friends she’s going to make and the things she’ll learn. She was over the moon when we went shopping for her school supplies, and insisted on sleeping with her new Disney Princesses backpack for a few nights.

As The First Day Of School approached, she began to show signs of nervousness. “I can’t go to school, Mom,” she said one day, looking pitiful. “I can’t read yet.”

I assured her that she would learn to read in kindergarten. She cheered up a little bit, but the increasing frequency of questions over the next few days indicated that she was starting to get a little scared.

So. Yesterday morning was the big day. I got off work at 7:30 and rushed home; her Daddy had dressed her, brushed her, and fed her, so all it remained for me to do was take a million pictures of my baby in her new haircut and shoes and drive her to school. She sat very quietly in the back seat, with her backpack containing her kindergarten folder and Blanky next to her. (Blanky has been a member of our household since mini-Marli was born. I sometimes wonder how much it’s going to cost to send Blanky to college with her.)

She held tightly to my hand as we walked into the school. At the front door one of the teachers greeted us with a large tiger puppet. I felt mini-Marli relax a little bit, and I could almost hear her thinking, “Oh, good. They have puppets. I like puppets. This could be good.” We walked down toward the kindergarten end of the building, passing a few mothers headed back out towards the parking lot with tears in their eyes. Outside one of the first grade classrooms a small boy had his father’s knees in a death-grip and was screaming at the top of his lungs, “I don’t wanna go! I wanna stay with you!” Mini-Marli looked up at me. “I don’t think he wants to go to school,” she said solemnly. “I think you’re right,” I said.

We found her classroom and went inside. A few kids were already there, checking out the blocks and books, writing their names, talking. And mini-Marli looked around, heaved a big satisfied sigh, dropped my hand like it was a dead fish, and took off.

“Um…bye, honey,” I said, startled, but she was across the room looking for her cubby and didn’t hear me. The teacher told me I could stay for a couple of minutes, and I did, hovering around my daughter, but she was too busy to pay much attention to me. Which is as it should be, I know, but still…

I headed back to the parking lot with tears in my eyes and went home.

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You should be proud. She sounds very well adjusted.

My kid still goes through the screaming and crying bit every time we drop her off. She’s fine as soon as we’re out of sight, apparently, but still, it’s pretty exhausting. We’re just about to take her to a new nursery entirely, so heaven knows what that’ll be like.

Sounds like you did a good job. I think you deserve some form of cake-based snack.

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They have such an easier time letting go of us than we do them, don’t they? :slight_smile:

My baby starts pre-school a week from today sniffle

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I think my mom still resents me a bit for taking off down the hall to class my first day of preschool without looking back. :slight_smile:

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I’ll never forget Mini2U’s first day of school. sniff They grow up so fast, don’t they?

He starts his first year of high school next Wednesday… :frowning:

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I just glad my girls are going to stay 3 and 4.5 forever. They are aren’t they? :confused: :frowning:

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I remember being terrified of going to kindergarten. I imagined it was like a chain gang, with a line of thirsty, crying, dirty-faced 5-year-olds with hoes and shovels, gardening in the hot sun! :slight_smile:

Imagine my relief when the reality turned out to be a lot better than I imagined. At least ‘high’ school lived up to its name… :wink:

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My oldest starts after Labor Day. I think I’ll need a whole box of Kleenex.

My baby starts the next year.

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Ivygirl did something similar on her first day of kindergarten. I helped her find her seat, she sat down, I bent down to hug her and she said, “Bye, mom,” quite pointedly.

Trust me, it doesn’t get easier. Ivyboy is starting 10th grade this year. High school. It’s not possible. Ivygirl is in 7th. That’s not possible either. (That, plus I had to buy her a bigger bra a couple of weeks ago.)

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I just returned home from taking my son to Ohio Wesleyan, where he’s starting as a freshman. He is my middle child of three. My oldest is 21, my youngest 15.

I was about 100 miles into the drive back home when I thought 'I’ve just dropped him off at college, and now he’s never coming back as my little boy again. It will never be the same.'

I then **started sobbing ** so hard I had to pull the car over to the side of the road. No wonder we mothers have the reputation we have! Wusses!

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Nicely written post Marlitharn. It brought back memories.

My “babies” are now 22 and 20. As ivylass and CBCD says, it doesn’t get any easier with future milestones either. In some ways, the transition to college is even harder because they don’t come home again that same day. I had tears in my eyes when we dropped off our son at college, and again when we dropped off our daughter.

But I was doing quite well compared to my wife. She was sobbing.

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We knew the arrangement when we took the job.

I am determinedly trying to enjoy Every Last Second of my daughter’s life. In fact I should get the camcorder out again. In fact I think I’ll go and watch her sleep. In fact, who needs to sleep? Bet she feels like playing horsies!

(my wife has just whacked me round the head)

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Your post made me all teary-eyed. Charlie did exactly the same thing last year when he started kindergarten. Didn’t even look back. It was a brand new school and he didn’t know anyone, but he didn’t care. The bell rang, they lined up and he just followed the teacher to his classroom. He looked so grown up and yet so little at the same time.

<sigh> If they could only stay little til their Carters wear out…

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My 6-month-old baby girl just got her first tooth on Tuesday - after calming her down, I lost it.

Thanks for the story, that was quite lovely.

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Man. Now I feel bad about my first day of school for my mom. She cries enough at my dance recitals, I wonder how it will be when I go to collage.

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Well, she had a marvelous first day; she spent 2 hours after school talking nonstop about her teacher and the other kids and all the things they did. My baby isn’t a baby anymore sniff. My older son started 7th grade and is 2 inches taller than me, neither of which seems possible, but there you go. I cried when he went to kindergarten, too, 8 years ago.

I should have never taught them how to walk. :wink:

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I cried when each and every one of mine started school. Now I have one in high school, two in Jr. High, and two in grade school.
I cried for different reasons with all of them.
Our second daughter because she was My first baby to go to kindergarten, my oldest son because he wasn’t my baby anymore.
Five years later my youngest son started and he was nervous and didn’t want me to leave. He got all pale and looked like he was going to get sick. He didn’t cry though.
My baby started the following year and with her I cried because she waltzed right into the room and never gave me a second thought. Actually she told me I didn’t have to go in with her that she would be okay.
That day as I left her classroom and was on my way out I saw a little boy crying because he was lost. His older brother and sister ditched him on his first day of kindergarten and he was so small…I suddenly felt needed and held his hand and helped him find his classroom and get settled.
Thank you for sharing your story and letting me remember mine. It seems like just yesterday, but sadly my baby is in second grade and our oldest is a sophmore.

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My dad told me something once about raising kids that I thought was wonderful. “You give them roots so they can grow wings.”

Time really flies when you’re a parent.