The First Week of School
Readers of this blog will know how apprehensive I have been about starting my son in school. It turns out there’s somebody who has been even more apprehensive than me – his father!
Our son is turning four and just started in a Montessori preschool. In our one-on-one meeting with my son’s new teacher, she told us about the gradual transition plan and how within the first week, all the children should be perfectly happy staying for the entire school day – i.e., three hours. Lucky for me, my husband volunteered to see our son through the transition – taking him to school each day and staying until he was ready to leave.
As it turns out … since my son is in the half-day program, many of the students in his class (other half-day students) are younger than he is – some are barely three years old. With twenty students in a class, that makes for a LOT of very unhappy new students. My son has actually handled the transition quite well and his only issue is convincing daddy to leave him alone in the classroom. Also, my son is very affected by turmoil around him – particularly when other children are upset. So I think that once the other children calm down, my son will be very content in the class. In spite of all the upheaval this week, he has actually had some productive playtime in the class exploring new activities.
Next week, I’ll be taking him to school with his little sister along for the ride, so I am hoping that we don’t have any major issues. There is a parent waiting area that has toys for the younger siblings, so I am hoping that everybody will be content there and that I won’t need to stay the whole time for more than a day or two.
It’s been very comforting in a strange sort of way to realize that there are other parents who are just as neurotic as we are. At one point this week, there were so many parents with their noses pressed against the glass panes of the classroom doors that the head administrator had to disband the group because they posed a fire hazard!
So, the bottom line is that my son seems to be making it through the transition with flying colors and I am cautiously optimistic about this whole schooling business! Do you have any stories about the beginning of school? Please share them with me in the comments!
Thanks for this glimpse of preschool anticipation and acceptance. My children are not in school (3 and 1 1/2) partly because we haven’t found a school for the older one yet and partly because…maybe I’m nervous that I won’t find one that fits us. It will come in its own time. I love the visual of the parents pressed up against the window creating a fire hazard. Sometimes it is harder for us.
It’s a very big decision – I’m sure you’ll figure out the right combination. Thanks for reading & commenting!
K’s first day was similar in many ways, more than half of the class was in tears (all at varying stages of 2yo) when I dropped him off. He just marched off to find the trucks. Apparently it all got to him later in the morning and he began to cry. The assistant teacher, who has had both of my girls over the past 2 years, brought him down to see A in her 4yo class. A hug from her and assurance that mama would be coming soon calmed him down for the remainder of the school “day.”
Awww – Such a nice thing to have a sibling in the school for moral support! Being so traumatized about sending J to school, I’m not sure I’ll ever send E! She misses her big brother while he’s at school. Thanks for reading & commenting!