Kindergarten tears.

I cried everyday of kindergarten for the first four months of the school year. Every. Single. Day. Even though I had spent the past two years attending Montessori preschool at my church with no adjustment issues, something was markedly different in my kindergarten experience.

My mother was my teacher.

She was an experienced teacher by the time I entered her classroom in September of 1981, but this was a new challenge for her. She taught elementary school right out of college while my dad was in the Lutheran seminary, facing the needs of kids in St. Louis, Los Angeles and the Bronx. After my sister was born in 1970, my mother stayed home with us until I (the baby of the family) went to preschool at three years old. Because of this, she never had the opportunity to teach either of her other children.

As I recall, I cried because she did what all kindergarten teachers do: they make every single child in their class feel capable, special and important. In layman's terms; my mommy hugged other kids. And I was NOT happy about it.

"But you get to go home with me everyday!" my mother would tell me, "Next year these kids will move on to first grade, but I will be your mommy forever!"

When dealing with me rationally didn't work, she did what any other self-respecting mother would do in these circumstances: bribery. Apparently, I'll do anything for a set of Strawberry Shortcake Colorforms. I was able to pull myself together and end the daily flow of tears.

I've been thinking a lot about this situation because my son will be entering kindergarten next fall. Will his teacher provide an environment that feel as special as my mother did for her students? Will he or she care and nurture my son the same way my mother cared for her students during her thirty years of teaching? I'm hopeful that they will, and I'll be there every step of the way to ensure it. I believe that it's our job as parents to work with our children's teachers in ways that assist them in enriching the lives of every student in the classroom, not just my own.

And even though you think that it's odd enough that my mother was my kindergarten teacher, I'll also share this with you.

My father was my high school principal. Discuss.

Comments

[The Sister]

I LOVE this post, but was it necessary to tell everyone that I turn THIRTY-EIGHT this year? I really don't think so.

[The Sister]

P.S. Maybe the reason you and The Brother are so much more screwed up than me (hee!) is that I didn't have Mom for a kindgergarten teacher OR Dad for a high school principal. I'm just saying...

[slynnro]

Oooooh....worst.

[autumn dahlia]

I think I just gained a nervous tick for you...

[Jen]

I can't even imagine having my mother as my teacher! Wow - she must be a gifted teacher to have handled that situation so well. She must have wanted to give you special attention as much as you wanted to get it!

[Joy]

Wow! I can't imagine having my Dad as my principal!