School orientation and registration for first time parents is ridiculously awful. As a parent with a child going into first grade at a new school, I was hoping to learn a few things during registration.
How to:
1. drop off and pick up my kid
2. buy lunch
3. excuse an absence
Maybe I didn't read through the information thoroughly (I did), but none of this information was presented to me! I had to go to the office to ask about everything, which was quickly explained to me, but wouldn't a simple worksheet have solved that for me?
Now as I'm pondering through what time to wake up to get all four kids packed so we can walk him to class the first day, I'm getting kind of nervous. It reminds me of all those "first time parent" insecurities and questions we had the first time around. How hard it was to figure things out, how much we scoured the internet and more experienced friends for help. How dumb we felt. How ill prepared we felt. How lost we felt.
I'm so nervous for Jordan. Mostly because he doesn't have any guy friends with him. He'll know two girls because their moms are my friend and they came to our house for a 3-day Chinese camp, but all his besties from kindergarten are going to different schools. I know Jordan won't have any problem making friends, but I'm still nervous for him because I want him to make good friends, ones who will be kind and supportive, honest and good, and most importantly a good influence on him. I want him to feel proud of himself, I want him to love learning, I want him to love recess, and I want him to love first grade. I have so many memories of trying to make new friends, of being a loner, of struggling to find people I connected with, and my heart is just praying that if he has those same experiences, that they'll be short lived and a distant memory.
The other thing I'm scared about is that Jordan is not a sharing information type of kid. My other kids will tell me what they did, what their favorite thing is, the best part of their day, etc., but Jordan is kind of mums about it all. If I ask his Primary class what he did for the week, he says, "I forgot" when I know what he did, because I was with him all week. If I ask him to tell Andy what he did that was fun during the day, he shrugs it off and doesn't respond. It hasn't been a problem for me because I'm with him all day, but once he's in school for most of the day, I won't be privy to his day so much anymore. And that makes me sad.
Nevertheless, first grade... ready or not, here we come.
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