Jack's First Day of School

It was a great day for Jack to begin school: the chance to meet new friends, the opportunity to learn things he hadn't been able to do before, the time to begin his move toward being able to do things in a boy's world. It seems like in only a moment he and Tommy have become little boys, not Toddlers. He would no longer laugh when I told him that he was Pop Pop's Pookie Bear. And Tommy was the same way. I could now tell them I loved them, as long as no one was able to hear, and giving hugs were not to be done in front of their school friends.

Dickens wrote something profound in the beginning pages of A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." This is how I look at this time. It is hard to let go, to admit that they no longer need me to watch them every minute. But I will do it any way. The first day was fun for him. You could see the electricity in his eyes, especially when he talked about school, and again when I took his backpack to him the next day. He was so proud to be there, and he was excited to learn new things.

For the first few days, there were snacks, there were games, there were fun things, and then came homework. We had to talk to him about how important that was and how vital those pages of work were for him to learn new things. We refused to let him use the word boring, and when he said it the first few days, we explained why those pages were so important.

My Annie noticed how the skill of raising his hand was still something he remembered from Preschool. Because even though they laughed at his spontaneity last year, and even though Primary leaders in church laughed when Jack identified an important prophet on a ship as a Jesus pirate, no one in Kindergarten wanted to hear things that would be a distraction. They would not relish his comments, and they would not like it when adult visitors and other children laughed.

But things went well, and Jack made friends quickly in a year that will be important to him. He will learn to read, and most importantly, he will learn why school and homework are important keys to his successes in life. I will remind him, his grandma will remind him.

And his mom, who is so proud of him and who loves him very much will remind him too.