The First Days

I don't mean to brag, but my daughter is a pro at first days of school. She's Six, and just had her 5th first day of school. Ha ha. Preschool, Kindergarten in TX, Kindergarten in UT, Kindergarten in AK and now first grade. My daughter has officially been to as many schools as I went to K-12. Ha ha.

Anyway, every year she's excited and a bit nervous. We go over outfits trying to find the perfect one, pack her bag, decide what to put in her lunch and have countless conversations like this one: "Don't forget to say please and Thank you, Listen to your teacher, be nice to the kids, Mommy loves you, I will see you after school, what's your bus number? Don't forget that number! Tell me one more time, which bus do you get on?" Her reply is always "I know mom, you told me a million times already!" I can't help but have a minor panic attack while she confidently walks straight to her desk and informs me "I will ride the bus tomorrow, you don't have to drive me. You didn't have to drive me today." Sigh. You'd think she was a teenager, but nope, at six s she's hardly nervous and makes friends almost instantly. Every year we take first day of school photos, I looked at them the other day and was shocked how much she has changed already.

From Preschool with her too big backpack and little uniform tightly clutching my hand asking me to sit with her for a little while, to a girl that wants to ride the bus because it's more fun than having mom take you. I'm excited to see what the future brings. It's hard to give her more freedom, learn to let her do things without me but as I see her confidence grow and watch her make good decisions for herself I can't help but be proud of the person she is becoming.

 

She likes school enough that she even wants to be a teacher when she grows up. I hope she continues to love it.