Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Back to school blues

Tomorrow my 6 year old will be starting 1st grade. She is very excited; she made her new teacher a present and has been practicing reading for the last couple of weeks to get ready. She wants to ride the bus, eat at school and learn lots of new things. I'm happy that she is so excited, but I am sad to see her take this big step. To me this year is 100 times worse than when she started Kindergarten. For me it is one more blow towards her becoming an independant adult. She keeps telling me, "you'll be sad when I'm gone all day in school". Yes, darling, I will!

What makes the whole situation worse is my job requires me to work 4-10pm. That was great when both girls were little, as they had either mom or dad taking care of them most of the day. But now she will be in school until 4, so I won't even see her before I leave for work. I can't help her with her homework or ask about her day. If anything bad happens I won't be there to see her face when she comes home and talk to her about it (getting info out of her can be like pulling teeth, it takes great care and understanding plus a lot of time). I have Tuesdays off, so I've promised her that will be "our day"; when dad gets home to watch the little one she and I will go out for a walk, hot cocoa or whatever else she wants to do.

It is just so sad to see my precious little one, the girl who was permanently attached to mama's hip until age 3, make these transitions to independance, even though I am fiercly proud of the girl she has become.

No comments: