When my eldest daughter is nervous, she puts her fingers in her mouth.
Although Lucy is only 4.5-years-old, you can trace these moments back in the thousands of digital photos that fill our computer’s hard drive: when people are singing to her on her second birthday. Her first day of preschool camp at Elgin Park last summer. When meeting her baby sister for the first time in late 2008.
So it came as no surprise that when when Lucy’s daycare teacher emailed photos of a little graduation her class had — of kids moving up from the preschool room to the junior kindergarten room — Lucy had two fingers held up near the corner of her mouth in the group shot, along with a beaming smile.
That may as well be me, too. Tremendous excitement mired with trepidation and a bit of sadness as September approaches.
I’m not nervous about Lucy starting JK in September. She will transition from a daycare centre to the classroom, and is well prepared for the routine of school. She can write almost all her letters, and spell some words. Lucy loves books, and must create something every day — be it a drawing of our family or a fairy castle with sticks and jewels. She is outgoing, friendly, and makes friends easily.
Lucy’s daycare teachers call her a kind soul. She is caring and empathetic beyond her years. Recently, a new girl started at daycare, and refused to talk to any of the teachers, but would whisper her needs to my daughter. At night, Lucy lines all her dolls up in a row beside her in bed, covering them with a blanket and kissing them goodnight.
She is intuitive and perceptive to people’s feelings. Last week we watched the Disney movie The Fox and the Hound for the first time. When Big Mama left Tod in the forest, Lucy suddenly burst into tears, overcome with emotion.
It’s with this in mind that my mama bear worry comes to the surface. I’ve friends with kids in kindergarten, and am horrified by the stories of bullying at such a young age. One kid — not even 5 — asked my friends’ son where he lived so he could come over after school and beat him up. How does a child that little even form a thought like that?
We talk a lot about right and wrong, about nice and mean, about hurting people’s feelings and what makes us feel good and proud. I hope this gives her the tools to fend off any not-so-nice characters she encounters at any stage in her life.
More than anything, all of us are excited for what the fall will bring. We purposely kept both girls out of organized activities this summer so we can enjoy these last weeks of carefree living. We slurp popsicles in the backyard, take lazy walks to the park and stay in our pajamas until noon when we can.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned so far as a parent, it’s that life with kids is never constant. And so we grasp on to these fleeting moments of summer before school changes life again.
