Friday, August 3, 2007

first I'm going to gripe some more, then I'm going to retract it all

The first thing on the list of kindergarten school supplies that we got in the mail was this:
"a standard size backpack (with out wheels)"

In what world is "without" two words? And how can I allow the people who inhabit that world to be in charge of my son's education?

(I saw that list and it scared me. But at the same time, I tried to keep that fear in check. Because I know about myself that I hate change, and I'll look for reasons to be disappointed with a new setup, whatever it is, rather than being open to its potential. I do have at least that level of insight.)

Today, after dropping the kids of at day care, I stopped in at the school to ask whether I missed anything important on Ezra's teacher's message. A wonderfully dear office biddy helped me out, and then the assistant principal came out of her office to say hello. She shook my hand, looked me in the eye, and seemed genuinely happy that I had come by.

When I asked her how the whole morning drop-off thing worked, she told me the parking lot was swarming with adults whose sole responsibility was to help kids out of cars and molest them in the woods behind the school usher them to their classrooms. She told me that most mornings, she herself was out there assisting as well.

I guess she sensed my bewilderment about kindergarten, my feeling nervous about my oldest starting there in a couple of weeks, my sense that the building was so enormous, the halls ten miles long. She said to me, "Don't worry; we'll take good care of him." And right then and there, all my concerns about his teacher assignment, thick Southern accents, the typo in the supplies list, the wee-ness of my boy in a seemingly vast institution, disappeared.

I began to believe that we'll be all right there, and that Ezra will do fine. My fears were just my fears. Completely with out basis.

3 comments:

fuquinay said...

Hey, don't worry.

My daughter's teacher was not very bright, and she had a normal accent. Everything she sent home had a grammatical error, which I tried not to correct.

My daughter turned out brilliant in spite of her.

One of my favorite things, though, is that this teacher turns Christmas music on in the classroom during the holiday season. She told me when Adam Sandler's song came on, she got Serena to come up and listen to it.

She also did the same thing with Chayan, the Guatemalan boy, when Feliz Navidad came on.

:roll eyes:

Stacy said...

sending him off to kindergarten, how terribly sweet and nerve-wracking. I recall vividly my worries for my eldest as we stormed the walls of the public school system for the first time.

the spelling thing? ot has been my sad experience that many grown-up people--including grammar school teachers--are crap spellers. the best you can hope for is one or two hardasses along the way, plus a smart stupidmommy and a smattering of really good books, to teach good spelling. as for the accent, I can't help much there. I'm from the South and I find the stereotype holds more true than not. but she could at least get his name right--geez.

Stacy said...

sorry about the spelling error in my comment criticizing other people's spelling. I was typing one-handed at the time.