By: Lora Wimsatt
From the very first moment your baby was born, he began to learn about the world around him.
The first thing he learned is that Mommy is soft and warm, that Daddy is strong and safe.
“Instinct,” the books say; “reflex,” the websites say, as your little child begins to nurse, to cry when she is wet or hungry. That may be… but what she quickly learns is that someone will hurry to her side to provide the things she needs, to care for her, to love her.
And you are learning too.
You never knew before how someone so very tiny could fill your heart so completely, overflowing with love. You never knew before how great your hopes and dreams could be for another person, greater even than your hopes and dreams for yourself ever were.
You think about these things as you whisper words of comfort and promise into the dark hours of the night as your precious little one snuggles contentedly into your arms, and you know, somewhere in the back of your mind, that the pathway to making your dreams for your child come true will lead through the classroom.
The years flew by even as you cherished your role as your child’s first teacher, although you sometimes despaired that your main lessons consisted of “pick up your toys” and “no cookies until after dinner.”
But finally, the day you always knew would arrive, arrived.
It is time to register your little one for school.
Whether preschool or kindergarten, the first day of school is now on the horizon.
“Someday” is “now.”
You look at the calendar one more time to add up the dates and years and ages; yes, your child really is old enough to go to school.
So you gather the required documents – birth certificate, Social Security card, immunization certificate – and you say bright, cheery things to your child about how much fun he will have, how much he will learn, how many friends he will make.
You talk about the joy of reading and writing and learning to add. You talk about eating lunch in the cafeteria and about riding the school bus like a big boy or girl.
You remind her there will be a new backpack and clean, shiny crayons and a special outfit for the first day.
You smile and do your best to sound encouraging when your child asks, “How long?”
“Soon,” you say.
Very soon.
You drive by the school and point out the playground. You mark the calendar for orientation day and back-to-school picnics. You smile and shake hands with your child’s teacher and bus driver and principal as you introduce your child.
You are relieved at how nice they all are, how excited they are to welcome your child to their classroom, their bus, their school. The school is clean, the bus is safe, the classroom is attractive; it is everything you could have hoped for, and more.
All the paperwork is in order, money has been deposited into the lunch account and everything is ready to go.
Your child is certainly ready to go, chattering excitedly all the way home as she talks about all the books in the media center and the helpful custodian who promises to mop up milk in the cafeteria if there is an accidental spill and the promise of learning how far away the moon is and aren’t you proud that she can already print her name and there is a music class with real keyboards you can learn to play and how exciting to see the desk by the window with her name on it and the little boy who sits at the next desk says we can be best friends.
Everything is ready to go.
Now it’s time for you to let go, and keep the promise you whispered in the dark all those years ago.