Whither Thou Goest, I Shall Be There
Tomorrow is the first day of school. My son, I call him Little Monkey, he’s starting within our public school district after attending private school for 2 years, plus summers at the school’s on-site daycare. He’ll know no one at his new place. Even his best little bud down the street will attend a school across town. I feel bad for Little Monkey. He doesn’t adapt to change well at all. And this brings to mind my childhood.
See, I went to school in 9 different school districts from Texas to Korea to Germany before I graduated. I know how scary it is to walk in those doors and see kids happily going where they need to go and lonely little me being totally unfamiliar with the school, the kids, the teachers, the staff. Talk about feeling lost. It’s like stepping off a cliff.
The military kids today have a whole wealth of issues to deal with that I cannot even fathom. When my dad left for “exercises,” it was for a short time and really, he just went to some other base in the US. The Guard and Reserve kids have it the worst, I think. Yeah, they don’t have to move, but they also don’t have the support network around them that active duty brats do. Just being on base with kids like yourself is a huge relief. And that goes for schools too.
But one common theme is being the New Kid. Man, that just sucked. Especially if it was right in the middle of the school year. Not only were there social issues, there were academic ones, trying to mesh the previous school’s curriculum into the new school’s requirements and format. Ugh. Sometimes, you end up covering the same material and sometimes you end up being totally lost as to what was going on. That does not help to adjust at all.
But a strong family network, friends, love, and support can get a kid through this, no matter the age. I know in my family, my grandparents were the Home Base that was the constant in my life. No matter where I was, what I was doing, they were there for me. And I suspect all the kids out there feel the same way about an important person in their lives. As long as there is unconditional love from that home base person, it will all be ok.
To all of those kids, including my Little Monkey, good luck with the new school year. You’ll make good friends, you’ll learn interesting things, and you have your whole life and future ahead of you. Have faith that you will get through this time and you are loved, whether it’s by someone who lives in the same home as you, or by someone who is a million miles away.
claire
August 31st, 2009 at 3:30 pmIt’s hard watching them have to grapple with hard issues we remember grappling with too. I hope your son had a good first day at his new school.