Sunday night I furiously worked on painting a sign for my little first grader. I had to have it ready for her to strike a pose with on Monday morning while she steps onto another milestone. Yup...first grader already and our life is zipping past us in comet speed. We did the "meet the teacher" and B who shows less emotions when I am searching for one did not disappoint me and acted cool while she waved hello to her teacher. After the meeting she also told me that, she has to wait and see before she says anything about the teacher. That is how the school year began and we are looking at 150 plus days of happiness, sadness, excitement, and not so much ahead of us.
Bubs has never known what it is to stay at home and not be in school on weekdays. Yes, the choice we made for her was to be in day care so that her parents could work. Not the ideal one but it is one we have all made peace with. There is an occasional "why me?" but that is expected from us going through mundane frustrations. B to most part has never fussed about school, one day here and one evening there she would complain but she has always reticently walked out of the car and into the various day cares. I have never heard complaints and she was always a happy well adjusted kid.
In the daycare world care professionals rarely complained because there is not much expected in terms of results. The kid can play, study or do nothing and yet everything they do will be counted as a milestone. To give an example, a child who decided to hold pen after five days or persuasion will be called a genius and the parents are also made to feel excited. School, on the other hand is not the same. This is the ground zero for child personality development. The coy kid becomes brash, the loud one is the quietest and the smart one forgets that it can have a voice. Things change here and drastically so on a daily basis. Every day as I drop her off, my heart wrenches for the hours she will be spent where there will be fewer kind words and more stress on following orders. This will be the place where she will be pitted against other kids and parents will fight for attention from teacher so that their child can shine. A kind of place where you really do not enjoy much until you are old enough to get away with small silly things you share with your friends on the sly.
For me, it was high school when I started to enjoy school. We would hide in the cafeteria to avoid classesor would sneak out to eat "chocobar" at the canteen during a boring hour. We enjoyed Physics lab the most because most of us could take a nap as the teacher was too lazy to move. Chem lab was another story, we would finish the experiment in ten minutes and have two hours to sit and chat. Exams were serious but school life was enjoyable. I hope for B that she enjoys at least a little of her Elementary life unlike me. She has a spirit, an enthu to enjoy, a need for fun and laughter, which I hope does not get drowned in the monotony of school and homework. I do not want to see her come home sad or disappointed.
Today, as I dropped her off at school I told her, "B remember, everyday tell yourself that school is Awesome and it will be so." B replied, "Yes amma, school is Awesomely Boring." Just like her dad!
Love you B
Amma!!!
Bubs has never known what it is to stay at home and not be in school on weekdays. Yes, the choice we made for her was to be in day care so that her parents could work. Not the ideal one but it is one we have all made peace with. There is an occasional "why me?" but that is expected from us going through mundane frustrations. B to most part has never fussed about school, one day here and one evening there she would complain but she has always reticently walked out of the car and into the various day cares. I have never heard complaints and she was always a happy well adjusted kid.
In the daycare world care professionals rarely complained because there is not much expected in terms of results. The kid can play, study or do nothing and yet everything they do will be counted as a milestone. To give an example, a child who decided to hold pen after five days or persuasion will be called a genius and the parents are also made to feel excited. School, on the other hand is not the same. This is the ground zero for child personality development. The coy kid becomes brash, the loud one is the quietest and the smart one forgets that it can have a voice. Things change here and drastically so on a daily basis. Every day as I drop her off, my heart wrenches for the hours she will be spent where there will be fewer kind words and more stress on following orders. This will be the place where she will be pitted against other kids and parents will fight for attention from teacher so that their child can shine. A kind of place where you really do not enjoy much until you are old enough to get away with small silly things you share with your friends on the sly.
For me, it was high school when I started to enjoy school. We would hide in the cafeteria to avoid classesor would sneak out to eat "chocobar" at the canteen during a boring hour. We enjoyed Physics lab the most because most of us could take a nap as the teacher was too lazy to move. Chem lab was another story, we would finish the experiment in ten minutes and have two hours to sit and chat. Exams were serious but school life was enjoyable. I hope for B that she enjoys at least a little of her Elementary life unlike me. She has a spirit, an enthu to enjoy, a need for fun and laughter, which I hope does not get drowned in the monotony of school and homework. I do not want to see her come home sad or disappointed.
Today, as I dropped her off at school I told her, "B remember, everyday tell yourself that school is Awesome and it will be so." B replied, "Yes amma, school is Awesomely Boring." Just like her dad!
Love you B
Amma!!!
