Truncated

What’s In a Name

The note read:

I had a conversation with Nathaniel today and he would like to be called Nate at school. Are you OK with that?

Ohhhkayy.

“Nathaniel, did Mrs.C talk you about being called Nate?” I asked.

True to form, his one word answer was, “Yeah.”

“And, did you tell her you want to be called Nate at school?” I continued.

“Yeah.”

I had spent time volunteering in the classroom. I had a pretty strong suspicion behind the reasoning for shortening Nathaniel to Nate. I was pretty sure Nathaniel did not come up with the idea. Count the letters. Nathaniel has nine. Nate only has four. Hmmm…

Can you put yourself into the mindset of a five year old and/or a kindergarten teacher?

I knew my boy was not a motivated writer. I had spent years practicing with him at home. Could he do it, sure. Was it a struggle, for him and his teacher? Without a doubt. Especially when the kids with three and four letter names wrote them out in half the time.

After five years of being called Nathaniel, which means gift from God, he became Nate within mere minutes.

All those pre-birth months of thought, rendered irrelevant. Well, that’s what I thought at first.

Realization dawned that I was thinking selfishly. If shortening his name at school made life easier for the most concerned parties, Mrs. C and Nate/Nathaniel, why would I cause a fuss. Was it fair for me to object? Did the child not have a say in the forward progression of his life?

Yes, he was five, but the enormity of his enormous name was a big problem for him.

He is now called Nathaniel by his extended family and anybody who knew him before he went to kindergarten.

He is called Nate at school and by his peers. Does it really matter?

Nope.

Just don’t call him Nathan. Nobody is OK with that.

The following year, I became an instructional assistant in a kindergarten classroom. We had a student named Callahan. He did not like to write. Within a couple of weeks, he became Cal at school.

As a parent, expectation and reality often live in conflict. I’ve experienced it time and time, again.

His name might be truncated, but the kid — he’s exactly who he’s supposed to be.