My foster granddaughter is beginning kindergarten this fall. In less than a week, in fact. It's a big change, and she has before and after school care as well. It's a long day, and I remember my kids being so fatigued when they started school. Even though they'd had preschool experience, and various sitters, somehow they know that this is the real thing. School will not be over for thirteen years, even if they skip college. It's a long haul. Their peers slowly become more important than their parents, and the cultural influences are compounded. We tell them they are big stuff to be going to school, but we sanitize and gloss over the difficulties.
I hope she isn't bored a lot, and finds friends easily and decides learning is fun. But there are scary times, and her protectors will not be there. She will have to learn to negotiate the big bad world by herself. She's shy, and tends to pull back when kids act out. I hope she will continue to feel she can speak out and be heard. But that depends on the teacher, the class, and a whole lot of luck. My heart goes out to her, and all these little beginning citizens, thrown into a world that often doesn't make sense and is not all that much fun. I'm thinking of volunteering in her class on the day I take her home with me, and just observing what the lay of the land is. Her mom is a teacher at another school and I could stand in for her in this small way and witness.
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