School started this week. I lament, to some degree, that I have no children to send off to school any more. They are all grown now. Oh darn, even the grandkids are grown. There is a passel of great-grandkids, all too young for school yet.
Once upon a time, which doesn’t seem that long ago, August was a busy month. There were school clothes to buy, and sew. School supplies to round up. And kids who had to be retrained to go to bed early so they could get up the next day in time to catch the school bus. But once my kids grew up, those chores ceased. Still, in the years after, August always caused a certain uneasiness. There was something I was supposed to be doing, but I couldn’t remember what. I finally figured out that I was missing the get-ready-for-school chores. Soon those chores will fall to my grandchildren. And yet, I sort of miss them. Kind of.
I’m sure my great-grandkids will have tales to tell when they start school. I love their honesty. So I went looking for things told by kids about their first days of a new school year. Their tales are re-told below. Enjoy.
*A new first-grade student came home and told his mother, “I’m going to wait until I’m in the 12th grade before I go back. Then I’ll only have one year left!”
*Another first-grade student reported, “Mom, I learned that the teacher is in charge, and I don’t think that’s fair. I think the kids should be in charge.”
*A little boy was asked if he was looking forward to going back to school. He replied, “Yes! I got all kinds of new ways to make my teacher mad.”
*A new kindergarten student asked, “Will my teacher put me in time-out for picking my nose?”
*A kindergarten student told her grandma she was scared, and she was crying. When asked why she said she had been told about homework. “I don’t know how to do homework!!" she said.
*Another indignant new kindergarten student demanded of his parents, “Why did you sign me up for school?”
*A first-grade student fell asleep in the car on the way home of school. When asked by mom why, she replied, “First grade is really hard.”
*A Head Start student reported on his first day of school. When asked what he’d done he replied, “We ate 3 times, we played 3 times, and went to sleep. I like school!”
*A kindergarten student was asked if he had gotten in trouble on his first day. He replied, “Not really. I did get caught talking when I wasn't supposed to, but I didn't get in trouble for it.”
The boy was asked what he had learned for the next time.
He replied, “Not get caught!”
*At the end of the first day, a fifth-grade student told his mom, “I don’t need to go back. I know enough.”
*A first-grade teacher told a mom her son needed to learn to follow directions. When confronted, the little first-grader responded, “Momma. I don’t know who Reck Shuns is! I CAN’T FOLLOW HIM!”
But my favorite of all is also the most simple, and most heart wrenching.
*A little girl, on her way to her first kindergarten class, asked, “Mommy, can you go with me?”
And the answer, to all my kids, and grandkids, and great-grandkids, is, “I’ll go with you anywhere.”
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