Why Didn’t Anyone Warn Me?
Today was my kid’s first day of preschool and I was totally unprepared
Every year in August, my Facebook feed is filled with photos of cute kids posing in front of chalkboards printed with the words, First Day of School! My friends’ posts are sweet and full of Mommy emotions. I’m one of the last of my high school and college friends to have a kid, so I thought I was well-prepared for this day.
I was not.
Here is the narrative I thought would play out:
First-born child — chatty and excited (or possibly anxious) for months about the prospect of going to school like all the other kids in August — pesters us to make sure we have everything ready the night before. He wakes early and is eager to leave, or else apprehensive and drags his feet. We manage to take the obligatory first-day photo — sans staged background — at the last possible minute because that’s who I am. I drop him off and hold back the tears as the teacher leads him inside.
Here is what actually happened:
Child starts preschool the day after he turns three to get extra speech support. He is very very excited about — his backpack. It is designed like a school bus. He is vaguely aware he will be going to school and is amenable to the idea.
