I remember the day we took this picture, you were just a little over three. I remember thinking at that moment, “You look so big, how were you already three?! I feel like you will be starting Kindergarten in the blink of an eye!” The saying, “It feels like only yesterday” couldn’t ring more true.
Here we are, you are officially starting school. I can’t decide which will cause more resistance as you walk into school that first morning-your backpack heavy and loaded with reams of construction paper, gallons of teacher requested hand sanitizer, and glue sticks or my hand tightly gripped on yours not ready for both of our worlds to change in an instant.
I’m so excited for you, please know this. I’m excited to welcome you home each day and having you tell me about the things you have learned, the friendships you have made, or about the daisy chains you made during recess. But having been on the other side, I understand that school is far more about the educational knowledge you will gain and with the good comes some bad which fills my heart with fear.
Up until this moment, I have had the most control I will ever have regarding your environment, and now I am losing that. You are going to learn that not everyone is kind, you will see that some families have different ideals than what our family believes. You will experience hurt feelings and rejection. As you start to evolve and develop into the person you will become, my role as a mother will as well.
My job will now include holding you as you cry because your new best friend decided she didn’t want to be best friends anymore. I will encourage you to respect other people’s beliefs, but holding your own close to your heart. I will have to teach you how to put on a brave face when you are anything but brave. These tough lessons are what makes us baby girl, so while I dread these moments-I look forward to watching you persevere.
I was so scared to become your mother, worried that I would fail you, but somehow we have made it without either of us being traumatized (for the most part). This makes me feel a bit better about entering our new state of unknown, we have figured out life together once before so I think we will in this season of life. And just like the picture above, too soon I’ll be staring at your first day of Kindergarten wondering how you are already in middle school!
From the start of Kindergarten to the end of elementary, time will fly fast for Moms! Read next week’s post from Becky as she shares her letter to her preteen daughter entering Middle School.
