Pass the tissue. I’m that mom. The one smiling in the pictures with an excited kindergartner off to the first day of school. But inside, I’m telling myself, “Deep breaths. You can do it.” I almost manage to send my final child off to school when a teacher asks, “Are you going to cry?”
As parents, we worry about how our children feel about the first day of school and how they are going to deal with a new school, new classmates and new teacher. Honestly, the person with the most anxiety and heightened emotions about this big step is me.
We’ve been through this before 12 months ago when our oldest started kindergarten. I bawled in the car before kindergarten sign up, after kindergarten orientation, and the night before the first day. I jokingly was going to need to a fellow mom to hold my hand. But my daughter did great!
I knew this day was coming. Between all the forms, calendars, back to school shopping and periodic screams of “I’m starting kindergarten,” how could I not know this day was quickly approaching? Life isn’t fundamentally any different at this moment than it was a yesterday. My youngest hasn’t grown a few feet or mastered any new skills. She’s still my tiny, precocious four-year-old who continues to tell me, “I’ll always snuggle with you.” She even listed it on her back to school sheet as one of her loves- “snuggling with mommy.”
But she’s my baby. She’s the last one to start school. This is our last first day of school. No more babies in the house. Both of my children are little girls. It’s hard to let them go knowing they’re becoming increasingly independent, exploring on their own, and learning to solve their own problems. Do I miss changing diapers? Definitely not. But I love those little moments when they want to just give me a hug, crawl into my lap to read a book, have their hair pulled back into a ponytail, or simply climb into bed for early morning snuggles and giggles. Time is fleeting. I realize that I’ll be preparing to send them off on their final first day of school one day and thinking how fast time goes by. It does. My tears will soon dry, and we’ll move on to the next big event. But hold on and relish each moment. Each age brings wonderful and not so wonderful traits and behavior. Don’t wish any of it to go by quickly.
