By: Christine Cox, The Choosy Mommy
I did it. I just took Capri to her first day of pre-school. I
ALMOST made it out of the building without shedding a tear until I saw a little
boy crying about leaving his mom. Then I cried…Capri was fine.
I know that the experience of going to pre-school is going
to be so rewarding for her. At her pre-school they are full steam ahead in
learning over play, however, I fully believe in playing to learn and we do that
at home. I am also thankful for fellow Choosy Kids blogger, Molly Luke, who
shared her tips
for going to school which really helped me!
My goal for Capri at pre-school is really to get her to
adapt to being without me, to listen to someone other than myself or her dad,
and to interact with other kids her age. She also needs to start to learn
routines because we are a very flexible schedule kind of family!
I never went to child care or pre-school. I went straight to
Kindergarten and to be honest, I had to take a test to even be allowed into the
class because I missed the birthday cut off date by 3 days (parents – September
birthdays are the hardest). I remember taking the test: building a tower of
blocks, telling him my ABC’s and even correcting him when he spelled my last
name wrong on the paper (it was a bit harder than it is now). Needless to say,
after I corrected him we didn’t do any more tests…I was READY! Mind you, it was
a half day program. Capri is in a 2-day, 2-hour program so the time difference
is huge but I know that if I survived Kindergarten without even doing any kind
of pre-school, then she should be fine.
This year, she is going to learn all of her ABC’s, how to count to
30 and learn lots of animals (hopefully some new ones that she doesn’t already
know because she is an animal “expert”). Her teacher is amazing and a lot of
parents with kids who already went through the same program have agreed that it
is truly one of the best pre-schools in our area. Let’s cross our fingers that
she meets some new friends (wouldn’t it be cute if she met her best friend in
pre-k?!) and dives feet first into this new adventure…by herself, like a big
girl.
And now the tears start to flow again. I knew this day would
come. Everyone told me that time will just fly by when she is young but I truly
had no idea time would go this fast. And now I look at Cam, already 4 months
old, growing like a weed, knowing that in a short 3 years I’ll be doing this
all over again with him. Hopefully I won’t cry, but who am I kidding, I am a
mom.
How did you react when your children first went to school? Tell me your
stories about this separation anxiety so that I know I am not the only one who cried!
About the Author: Christine Cox is the blog master and The Choosy Mommy for Choosy Kids. She has always had a passion for writing and is honored to contribute her work to this blog. Most of her writing inspiration comes from her daughter, Capri, who is fun-loving and full of energy, and newborn son Cam. Click here to learn more about Christine.