Kindergarten Stinks… according to my 5 year old!

I was so hopeful we’d have a good first day… my oldest child was starting Kindergarten!  We have been talking about school for weeks – how fun it is, how he’ll meet so many new friends!  We breezed through the assessment and orientation, and BB was excited!  I even displayed an uncharacteristic amount of organization – school supplies were purchased early, backpack was packed and ready to go, all of his clothes were washed and I even ironed his clothes.  I don’t iron.

Thursday morning started out so well and he seemed excited.   I have several smiling and happy “first day of Kindergarten” pictures to prove it!  We walked through the long hallways, and I should have known panic was looming when he actually grabbed my hand as we walked down the final hallway to his classroom.

We arrive at the classroom to surprise #1 (my child does not like surprises!)  His teacher unexpectedly had her baby early, and there was a new teacher at the door.  She seems nice and all, but not what he was expecting.  I began to see the fear in his eyes… and the meltdown starts to take place.

BB started backing out of the room, and next thing I know, his teacher and I are wrestling him into the classroom… she looks at me with a slight look of panic in her eyes and says “is this normal?”  I sighed.  “I’m afraid so.  For at least the first few days.”

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As we continue to wrestle BB I asked if I should just go.  She said yes, and as I walked down the hall, shaking myself, I hear “I want my mommeeeeeeeee!!!”  Oh no.  I did not do that one well.

I felt a little nauseous as I paid school fees, stopped by the cafeteria and paid for his lunch, and said a whole lot of little prayers that his day would go well.

All morning I waited for the phone to ring.  Thankfully it did not.

Then came pickup time.  As usual, I left the house five minutes later than I should have, and by the time I got to school, the carpool line was already down the street.  I awaited patiently, and finally saw my little man waving at me.  Thankfully he was smiling.  Then, uh oh, what’s that?  He is wearing his spare clothes!  No, no, no, no!  Please don’t let him have had an accident!!!  Don’t let him be that child!!

I pulled up, got him in the car, and asked how his day had been.  His little face crumpled.  Oh no, waterworks.  “Kindergarten stinks!  I didn’t like it!  It was boring!”

Hmm.  Best approach to take here?  I did what any normal parent would do.  I told him that he had no choice but to go to school or the police would take mommy and daddy to jail.  What???

Over the course of the next few minutes, he went on and on about his terrible, horrible, rotten, no good day.  Turns out he spilled milk on himself at lunch because he didn’t know how to drink from a small carton.  Phew!  At least he wasn’t that kid!  Let’s see… all the kids were mean to him (I don’t doubt that – I’m sure he has been immediately labeled the “cry baby” of the class,) they didn’t get to use the computers, no one wanted to play with him, rest time wasn’t long enough, (Huh???  Since when does my child want rest time?) and so on and so forth.

Unfortunately, BB seems to have inherited his father’s cheery disposition and outlook on life.

He doesn’t like anyone in his class.  Oh, and most importantly, I am NOT allowed to dress him in “handsome clothes” ever again.  I got a five minute tirade about everyone else wearing “regular clothes” and no one else had “handsome clothes” and “handsome clothes” are canceled!  Oh boy.

I tried not to laugh.

We got home, had a snack, watched an episode of “NinjaGo” and all of a sudden his world was right again.

And then my phone rang, and my world was turned upside down….

This post is written in the most loving memory my dear friend’s mother, who passed away very unexpectedly yesterday.  This reminded me once again about how precious and unpredictable life can be.  And all of a sudden, a bad first day at Kindergarten seemed so… unimportant.  I love you dear friend.