First day of Kindergarten!

It’s a big day!  Due to zoning, Allison was assigned to elementary school A.  However, we live in a district where you can choose and transfer between schools, so Diana decided to do some shopping around.  She felt pretty strongly that the next closest school B was better than A, and we applied for a transfer.  However, we didn’t find out the results of that transfer until last week, when we discovered that it was approved.  This is good news, as we’re really happy with school B.  However, it’s a little sketchy in that we have to re-apply for the transfer every year.  However, we’re assured that kids who are already enrolled get really high preference, and that it shouldn’t be a problem.

So, after pumping up the idea of kindergarten for a while, as well as having her in some daycamps to get her accustomed to being with new kids, today was the big day.  We drove over to the school and parked, and found her class.  We milled around outside with other parents and kids.  Some parents and kids knew each other from neighborhoods or preschools.  Soon the parents were ushered inside where we met Allison’s teacher.  She’s been teaching kindergarten for something like 20 or 25 years, and we’ve gotten the message from various sources that she was a good teacher.  She seemed like it.  She gave us a short introduction and overview while the kids played outside under the supervision of a yard monitor.

During the overview, I peeked outside to see what Allison was doing, and saw her sitting next to the playground watching.  Most kids were playing, but she and a few others were just kind of milling around.  It struck me as very Adam-like to kind of test the situation a bit before getting involved.

At some point, the kids started coming up to the windows, and she peeked inside and saw us and gave a big smile and a wave.  Then the kids were shooed away.

When it was time to say goodbye, we went outside with the other parents as the kids were coming back into the classroom.  There were some tears (her, not us), and some pleading for us to stay or to come to work with us.  This is not our first trip around the barn, though, and pretty easy for us to say “sorry kid, you’re on your own” and get away.  She waved to us and headed inside with the other kids.

I wondered if I was going to be emotional about it, but I really wasn’t.  I did (and do) feel generally anxious about it, though.  She, like me, is a look-before-you-leap kind of kid, and I imagine it will take some time before she makes friends and gets accustomed to the routine.  This is all to be expected, of course, but it doesn’t make it any easier to send your kid into a situation where they are nervous or scared.  In the end, I suppose, I’m probably more anxious than she is, and it will all be fine in the end.

Oh yeah.  Diana has a friend whose mom works at the school.  And apparently the mom went and peeked into Allison’s classroom, and reported (via her daughter, to Diana) that Allison “looked happy”.  So we’ve got our spy network in place!

I can’t wait to hear the report from Diana this afternoon.