The first day of Kindergarten was an adventure for both of us. Probably me more than him because I was told that I had to attend a parent meeting where I handed him off to the teacher. So I had to confirm that the bus wasn’t showing up (it did anyway because of course it did) and I had to make sure I had my act together to get him to school in time. It was a challenge explaining why daddy was going too. Though it was nice being there for his first day. People wanted pictures, but this was the only one that I was able to get since I had a trash bag of supplies that he couldn’t carry.
The trip there involved going through a school zone by the high school, which is now watched by a very serious camera. Of course the jerk behind me tailed me through the zone, raced into oncoming traffic to get around me, nearly took out the front of my car and the car next to me, and almost took out the car in front of me. Did I mention the county jail is a few yards away from the school on the other side of the street? Guy even blew through the red light in front of the jail with cops standing there. They looked as stunned as the rest of us considering what we just saw. This leads to the part of the story where the rest of the drive was me explaining the rules of the road to my son and getting him to realize that we were not in an accident.
Anyway, got to the school and was walking to the front when he teacher and the school psychologist saw us coming. They were a little confused because my son wasn’t on the bus and children of Special Ed students got the tour instead of the optional meeting. Yup. I had to drop off an Epipen anyway, so it wasn’t that bad. One of my son’s new classmates was there and they were talking about the shark on his lunchbox, his TMNT shirt, and that he had the Bad Guy (Darth Vader) on his backpack. It was cute and his classmate took his hand to lead him into the school and to the classroom.
You might notice something was skipped. My son didn’t remember me until he was halfway done the hallway and I said good-bye. Here’s the response:
“Bye, Daddy! I will see you later!”
That was it. I was a little confused there because I expected a hug or something more than a ‘oops forgot to say good-bye’. Keep in mind that he was hot and cold about his new school all week, so this wasn’t even in the top 5 possibilities. Anyway, that was how Kindergarten started for him and myself. At least he looks forward to homework when he gets home.
Legends of Windemere 
Sounds like he’ll do great! My heart lurch was my kid begging to go to “tool” (play school/daycare) while puking. She didn’t want Mom, she wanted to play with her friends. No one ever warns us about these possibilities!
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We get that on the weekend. Usually involves him getting his backpack and asking about the bus. Once we explain the weekend he just kind of wanders around for a minute until going back to his toys.
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That’s super cute, about him being led by the hand. 🙂
I guess that first day is never what people expect, but at least you got to teach him about how NOT to drive (and avoided the accident it sounds like that jerk was asking for).
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He really was asking for it. Doubt he got it though. You’re right that the first day is never what one expects. It throws you off if it goes entirely differently. All those days of mental preparations go to waste.
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Sometimes they are just too deeply involved in their own experience to think about us. He’s adorable in his TMNT shirt 🙂
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Shame we got the shirt just before the weather got cold . . . then hot again . . . then cold . . . then warm. It’s been a rough month and half.
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Sounds like he acclimated nicely – parents are just those people who give them food anyway
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Food, clothes, hugs when they decide to do a handstand on the couch and flip over the arm, etc. Kid is lucky I don’t charge him by the heart attack.
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🙂 Charles…such a darling picture! Have I said already how cute he is? I love the part about holding hands and semi-forgetting about you 😛 This was a wonderful post.
Ellespeth
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He gets that a few times . . . a day. 😛 He’s going to be home soon too. I get to hear about all of his mischief.
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One thing I’m glad not to face: first days of school. (Don’t worry – we have plenty of our own unique challenges to take its place!)
I hope he is still enjoying it! Better yet – I hope he still enjoys it that much in ten years ;-).
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I hope so too. A lot of friends with older kids are mentioning how the Common Core stuff is making them not want to be in school any more. That’s causing me to be really nervous.
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Yeah the CC stuff irritates me. It definitely takes the focus off learning.
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Not really sure what it focuses on. All I can figure is that it’s not making school fun, so kids have a higher chance of turning into adults with no urge to learn more. Maybe all of this is about creating generations of drones.
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Better he says, “see ya” than hanging on for dear life. Sounds pretty confident to me.
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Good point. Though I would have liked a little cling to make me feel like I wasn’t getting tossed aside.
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Wait till he is a teen and will definitely toss you aside.
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That’s when two can play the ignoring game. Be a shame if I ate all the pizza while he was in his room.
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Ha ha
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Great story…let’s see how long the whole “liking homework” thing lasts when he gets older. As far as hugs go, they seem to get to be fewer and fewer the older they get. My youngest child who turned 17 today tells me “No, I’m in high school” when I try to give her a hug…she is kidding (sort of), but that is what she tells me. Kids are such fun.
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God forbid they act like they enjoy your company in public. I’m hoping the homework enjoyment lasts, especially when it gets into the rougher stuff. I might not even like it at that point.
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Did you get an “I love school. I want to go everyday. Can I, please?”? Those are the great times when kids tend to love school, even homework. 🙂
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A few times, but it’s more him asking if he has school today. I really hope it lasts.
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Bless, I embarrassed my eldest by crying on his first day, not looking forward to Oscar’s first day next year, I’m such a soppy sod! Nice post, Charles, shame about the jerk on the road(we’ve all had near misses with those selfish, dangerous *word removed*s!). Keep smiling 🙂
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Thanks. Sadly, those jerks on the road are far too common these days. It’s like they’re putting driver’s licenses into cereal boxes.
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I agree, I’m learning to drive and it scares the crap out of me! Got my theory test Wednesday then going to book a few more lessons and practical exam, can’t keep putting it off!
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Good luck. Awareness is key. Though I guess driving is different over there. Here it seems to be a blood sport.
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Awesome that he made a friend right away. That’s much more important than academics to a kid having a positive school experience.
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I agree. He’s made a lot of friends since the beginning. About half of them are other teachers and the secretaries in the office from what I’ve been told.
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Good thing he didn’t cling to your leg. ^^
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I guess. Though I have a feeling that’s fairly common. 🙂
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