tips for school virgins

[rainbabies]

i'm nervous. ds starts school on the 26th. i'm ready for him to go, and he is ready to go....but i'm not ready. :huh:

any tips for gearing up? first day jitters...first week thoughts?? dealing with tired kids, scared kids...nervous....annoying requests from the school and or teachers??

ug. i'm so not ready....but i am......

[Vanquisher]

Re: tips for school virgins

You just do it, and it will be FINE!!!

I made special cookies for my ds on his first day, so that when he got home he had a treat. We also took pictures and the whole bit. I love having my ds home, and I hate that we only have a few precious weeks of summer left.

Just do things to make the time special, and before you know it, he'll be getting his drivers license. Really, it will be okay.

[houseelf]

Re: tips for school virgins

I don't have any advice, just commiseration. It goes way, way, way to fast. Each year I get a little choked up. Still, the first time is the hardest.

Thinking of you.

Kelly

[Momo]

Re: tips for school virgins

Sylvia, by this time tomorrow DS will be 3 minutes into the school year! DD's school statrs at 8:30!
I am soooooooo not ready! :thud:

[rainbabies]

Re: tips for school virgins

ug!! good luck, suz!

what did you decide for school? keep them where they're at, or move em close to home?

hang in there!!!!!!!

[Momo]

Re: tips for school virgins

We are going w/ our neighborhood public school for DS to start K.
DD will be going to a private montessorie across the street from his school!

[v-girl]

Re: tips for school virgins

Bring tissues. I bawled like a baby in the hallway outside the Kindergarten classrooms.

[Phoebe]

Re: tips for school virgins

Good luck guys! I was in your shoes last year! It all goes by so quickly! My baby is starting 1st grade next week!

[Meenah]

Re: tips for school virgins

Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just don't let them see you cry.

[houseelf]

Re: tips for school virgins

One thing that helps me get over the sadness is remembering that my kids are at the point where they desperately crave interaction with friends and new experiences. School gives them these things. If I focus on my loss, I'm just a great big puddle. If I focus on their gain, it is so much easier to stomach.

School is also a great time to focus on other things: younger children, working out, organizing the house, etcetera. Clearly, I'm the type who needs to be busy.

Hugs to all us mamas and papas going through these bittersweet milestones.

Kelly

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: tips for school virgins

Woah... I am so ready for the 26th to get here...

I never had a big emotional thing about any of them going to school... Does that make me really really heartless??

Hang in there! You'll do fine, and be ready for a couple of crabby transition weeks (KG can be soooo tiring, honestly).

[poky]

Re: tips for school virgins

I remembered this thread and had to share this; DH's parents are in Germany right now, and his mom's brother's oldest grandchild started school a few days ago (in Koblenz). This is my FILs report about it:

Today was a special day for the family and for <granddaughter> in particular. It was her first day of school. We were invited to participate in what proved to be an almost all-day affair. First there was a church service for all of the new first graders, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and everyone else, including us. Then we all walked to the school where we were greeted on the front steps by the older students, who sang a song of welcome to the new kids. Everyone was ushered into the auditorium where there was more singing. Then each new student was paired with a “mentor” and guided to his or her new class room. <granddaughter>'s first “day” of school lasted half an hour, after which we visited her classroom and inspected all of the posters which told how great it was to be a scholar, etc. Back at <granddaughter's parents>'s house it was time for lunch followed by coffee, cake, cake, coffee, coffee, cake, … . All of the while the doorbell and telephone rang constantly; friends and neighbors were offering congratulations and dropping off gifts. It seems that the rules were suspended for the day as pounds of candy either piled-up, were consumed or dropped on the floor. (Normally <granddaughter's parents> run a pretty tight ship.)

It was a far cry from your first day at school, as Mom tells it. If true, your brother took you to the wrong classroom, the teacher tossed you out and you walked the halls until someone got you to the right place. It must have been pretty scary for you. Anyhow, the present experience was positive and encouraging. <granddaughter> had already been introduced to her teacher, and the two of them had the opportunity to do some bonding before this first day. Mom and I were both very impressed by all of it and happy to participate.

<granddaughter's father>'s father told me that <granddaughter's father> also went to <granddaughter>’s school. The church where today’s celebration was held is also the church where <granddaughter's parents> were married. Theirs is truly a small and cozy world, isn’t it?

Definitely a different experience from the norm here in the states!

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: tips for school virgins



I feel like such a space alien/nonhuman/bad mom when I hear about moms who get choked up and sentimental about stuff like this. I mean, I wouldn't want to be going through that emotional grind, so I'm not jealous, but it does make me feel like I am somehow emotionally detached.

I am having the opposite feeling: I am psyched about DS starting pre-K at the end of the month (he'll be going to his new, as he puts it: "big boy," school, where he'll attend elementary). Maybe it's because DH has been in full-time daycare since he was 1 year-old, but I am not sad. I can't wait to see him set off into his new classroom, a little nervous but excited. Kind of like an adventure--it seems like it will offer more of an academic challenge than daycare, and he seems really ready to start to read. There's something especially cool about it for us, in terms of timing: new baby sister will be coming along about a month after DS starts his new school...so it is sort of like the cycle of life. One is leaving the nest of toddlerdom for wider horizons, a new one comes along...

But then, I didn't get choked up when he started daycare, either. I had to go to work, and I didn't have time to watch him through the window...like a dozen other moms were doing!! He seemed to do fine (he wasn't a separation anxiety kind of kid--perhaps not a particularly complimentary commentary on me...) and told me to go home and come back later when I came to pick him up... :huh:

Re: tips for school virgins

Ditto Annie.

Even with years of preschool and some daycare under my belt, kindergarten was hard. Seeing those impossibly big older kids and knowing she would be that size before I knew it...I don't know...sort of reinforces for me how fast time passes and how hard it is to remember some of those moments.

[alison]

Re: tips for school virgins

I remembered this thread and had to share this; DH's parents are in Germany right now, and his mom's brother's oldest grandchild started school a few days ago (in Koblenz). This is my FILs report about it:

Today was a special day for the family and for <granddaughter> in particular. It was her first day of school. We were invited to participate in what proved to be an almost all-day affair. First there was a church service for all of the new first graders, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and everyone else, including us. Then we all walked to the school where we were greeted on the front steps by the older students, who sang a song of welcome to the new kids. Everyone was ushered into the auditorium where there was more singing. Then each new student was paired with a “mentor” and guided to his or her new class room. <granddaughter>'s first “day” of school lasted half an hour, after which we visited her classroom and inspected all of the posters which told how great it was to be a scholar, etc. Back at <granddaughter's parents>'s house it was time for lunch followed by coffee, cake, cake, coffee, coffee, cake, … . All of the while the doorbell and telephone rang constantly; friends and neighbors were offering congratulations and dropping off gifts. It seems that the rules were suspended for the day as pounds of candy either piled-up, were consumed or dropped on the floor. (Normally <granddaughter's parents> run a pretty tight ship.)

It was a far cry from your first day at school, as Mom tells it. If true, your brother took you to the wrong classroom, the teacher tossed you out and you walked the halls until someone got you to the right place. It must have been pretty scary for you. Anyhow, the present experience was positive and encouraging. <granddaughter> had already been introduced to her teacher, and the two of them had the opportunity to do some bonding before this first day. Mom and I were both very impressed by all of it and happy to participate.

<granddaughter's father>'s father told me that <granddaughter's father> also went to <granddaughter>’s school. The church where today’s celebration was held is also the church where <granddaughter's parents> were married. Theirs is truly a small and cozy world, isn’t it?

Definitely a different experience from the norm here in the states!

Yup! I LOVE watching the first-graders go off to their first day of school in Germany. I think we have some pictures of dh on his first day with his Schultuete (filled with candy, coloring books and toys). I'll see if I can find one, but I think his mom has got all of them. It's a huge thing over there and I LOVE this milestone. Thanks for the story, Poky!