This week Quinn started preschool. It is only two days a week for 2.5 hours. Even though his time away isn’t long, it is monumental. It is the start of his school career and his experiences without me. The start of him meeting people I don’t know.
It is hard to wrap my head around the fact that I am a parent of a child in school. I feel like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. It is quite remarkable how quickly time flies when you are a parent.
Quinn is a very special kind of kid. I hope that my speaking of my child positively will not be taken the wrong way. I have spoken of not-so-great moments, so it is only fair to talk about the good stuff too. Besides, I imagine your parents saw wonderful things in you and that you see wonderful things in your child and I hope these things are celebrated.
Quinn’s vocabulary and verbal skills are incredible. He started talking at a very young age and picked up words at an insanely fast rate. Since he started talking, he hasn’t stopped. Literally, the kid is always talking. Talking to me, talking to himself, talking to strangers. He is a sponge. He picks up everything, his mind is on overload and he just has to get it all out. He is funny and full of personality. My dad would call him the “Jim Belushi of 2 year-olds”. Something about the kid is magnetic and memorable. No shortage on personality here.
One of Quinn’s most amazing skills is his ability to make people feel special. It truly is a gift.
One night, after Quinn had been at Barnes & Noble with grandpa, I opened up my email and found this:
Hello,I really hope this isn’t too weird or forward in any way, I just wanted to let you know that you have an amazingly beautiful, smart, little boy. I was at Barnes & Noble tonight just catching up with a friend after having a pretty rough start to my week, and he just came right up to me while grandpa was setting down his brownie on a nearby table, and introduced himself and proceeded to chit chat with me and completely made my entire day. Grandpa showed me your blog (which is so very neat, i’m still browsing around!), and i wanted to thank you for having such a wonderful little boy and him for making my day a better one. It was exactly what i needed 🙂 Take care!
At this point, you are probably wondering what this all has to do with school. Well it has everything to do with it. I love the carefree, social, positive, talkative, creative, loving little boy I raised. I am not going to lie that I worry about how school will change who he is. I wonder if his gifts will be celebrated. I wonder if he will have a hard time being quiet and will be made to feel bad about himself. I worry that his outgoing-ness will be met with cliques and bullies. I don’t worry about these things non-stop and lose sleep about them, but I worry like every mom worries.
Even as mom, I struggle with what is right. Where do I draw the line? Do I tell him to leave the lady in line alone or do I let him do his thing. Honestly, I think if I had been at Barnes & Noble instead of grandpa, I would have told him to leave the girl and her friend alone so they can have their own conversation. Clearly, that would have been a mistake. As we raise our children we try our best to guide them. We work hard to celebrate who they are.
Before becoming a stay-at-home-mom I was a teacher. I know there are 30 children with 30 different sets of strengths and weaknesses and 30 minds to shape. I know it is no small feat. But to every teacher out there, please remember that is somebody’s baby. And although their gifts may not always fit into your classroom, and they make your day a tad more difficult, try (please try) to celebrate that child.
So far School has been a positive experience for Quinn. He has really enjoyed it. Below are his answers to the Back2School Interview printable.
What is your teacher’s name? Miss KDid you make a friend? Yes, Brianna. A different kind of Brianna. (He has an aunt Brianna)What was the best part of your day? My best part of the day was bike racing.What was the hardest part of your day? The hardest part was trying to stop the girl from doing mean things like spitting.What was the easiest part of your day? The easiest part was winning the race. I asked my teacher if we could draw a finish line.How did you feel when you got to school today? HappyHow did you feel when you left school today? Sad, because I like my school. You signed me up to go there and bring snacks.What are you looking forward to tomorrow [next time]? To put up another marble.
So there it is, in a nutshell. Okay, not so much a nutshell. But how can a mom sending her baby off to preschool tell you about her little guy’s day and all her crazy thoughts and concerns in a nutshell. Just not possible friends. And in case you are wondering: yes, I cried. Kind of. The eyes welled up as I walked away. Mostly, because I just cannot believe how big he is and I was pretty excited for him and his big new adventure.
How did everyone’s back to school adventures go? Anyone else worried about how school would change their little one? What kind of school concerns do/did you have?
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