We survived the first week of school. But it was close.
Parenting a Kindergartener is nothing compared to the 1st grade.
In Kindergarten, the teachers and office staff expect you to be clueless. They give you plenty of reminders, lots of extensions on deadlines, and throw a tea party to meet you.
In 1st grade, if you don’t turn in your first day paperwork within 24 hours, the teacher sends home guilt trips on the lips of your child.
Kindergarten classes have play areas, circle areas, big soft pillows for story time. The 1st grade has desks lined up two by two.
Kinder teachers suggest reading out loud to your child. In the 1st grade, your child brings home homework packets that are so thick their backpack weighs them down. Each day, the backpack “mail” is filled with things for me to sign off on, things for me to assign, things for me to work on.
It feels like I’m the one in school.
Without recess.
One of the biggest differences is the length of days. To be honest, though, this is where 1st grade and Kindergarten beat by a mile. Last year, we scrambled to find childcare before and after school with transportation since Joseph had an “afternoon” start. At least this year, Chad can drop him off every morning and we only need afterschool care once a week thanks to my homeschooling sister who is tutoring him in reading.
Did you child start school this year? Are you a newbie Kinder mom? An old hand middle school mom? If so, any ideas how I can survive this thing called elementary school?
