My Son Starts Primary School Tomorrow
And I am way more nervous than he probably is
“Papa, but I like to stay with you and mummy,” my son said as I finished up our bedtime stories.
“I don’t want to go to school for longer than usual.” He knew he was moving from a 4-hour kindergarten to a 6-hour primary school.
That was probably my fault for burdening him with details he didn’t necessarily need to know. Or, did he? I don’t know.
The boundaries of parenting rights and wrongs are blurred, and highly subjective.
I decided to lie.
“But you aren’t going to school for any longer. It is, in fact, going to be more fun, with more breaks, more friends, and a new class teacher.”
Only the duration bit was a lie, the rest was a distraction.
Distraction towards more positive things — things that he’d (hopefully) look forward to.
Distraction, I’ve learned, in my 5+ years of being a dad, is your best tool with young kids.
I could tell he wanted to drag on bedtime for as long as he could.
He knew he must sleep to be rested for the big day, but he also was determined not to sleep.
