Visiting Kindergarten

I’m just going to go ahead and say this… this was one of the finer days of my life. It was one of those days you sort of dread — it could probably go “okay” or it could probably go horribly. It was the day for Ian to get “screened” for kindergarten, but more importantly, his first visit. For weeks leading up to this day, Ian had spoken of elementary school as if it was his mortal enemy. And why not? It would be robbing him of his old friends, it would be something new, on a different schedule. We’d driven through the parking lot just to see what he thought, previous to this day, only to have him erupt into tears.

So here he is, almost ready to go out the door. I love this shirt on him because it reminds me of a shirt he used to wear as a toddler that I think of as definitively “Ian.” (In fact, I still have said shirt, snatched from the “garage sale” pile — I couldn’t part with it!) See this image larger.

*Here we go, kiddo!* He was excited, and we were too! See this image larger.

Nina was ready to go as well! See this image larger.

So how did it turn out? Awesome. We sat down in the lobby and started filling out paperwork when suddenly Casey from up the street walked by. And then Brendan from next door filed by in a line of kids with a smile and a wave. And then one of the kids from daycare that Ian knows well, named Quinn, sat down right next to us because he would be in the same year — maybe even the same class, who knows? In short, one tiny visit and Ian knew that there were going to be familiar faces! When a teacher showed up to take Ian from us and talk to him about a few things, I winced, waiting for the outburst of tears. And there was one, but not from OUR brave little boy — it was a different kid. Ian grabbed the teacher’s hand, and off they went, a nervous smile on Ian’s face. When he came back the teacher told us that he was just a little distracted, otherwise fine. I grabbed Ian and went out the back door of the school to show him the playground. The adult on duty to watch over the kids welcomed us and ushered us on to go play. First we saw Brendan again playing near one area of the sprawling playground, which was cool… but soon we were surrounded by children, maybe as many as 15, following us around, asking me when Ian would be starting and which teacher he would be with. I felt like a bodyguard for a rock star, and Ian was shy but not so much to miss the gist of the message these kids were sending – You’re amongst friends. Everything is going to be alright.

We were all beaming with pride over the way things went, and so it was definitely time for ice cream! What a beautiful day it was, in every way. See this image larger.

As a parent, it was odd to suddenly have the fruit of all of your teaching under scrutiny. It was like he was suddenly under a microscope, compared to daycare, where there are no grades — just an annual parent/caregiver conference. You could see the writing right there on the wall… a baby/toddler/preschooler no longer: coming soon, Ian the Student! And that’s why this day was a bit of a relief. Ian seemed to be staring this lion of a challenge in the face, without much in the way of fear, and walked away excited for the future. (I know, we’ll see how long this lasts, we hope for a good long time. To this day he still asks when he gets to go to kindergarten instead of daycare.) Next comes orientation! See this image larger.