Sometimes I wonder if we’re doing our kids any favours by building their confidence before they start school.
They walk around the house, high-fiving everyone just for being able to chew.
We praise them for knowing how to count to ten and giggle and pat their backs when they leave out seven and mispronounce three.
We tell them they’re special and smart and unique and that having webbed hands isn’t weird, it makes them swim faster.
The first day of school is a real eye opener.
Aside from the obvious; new building, instructors they’ve never met before telling them what to do, meals served in a sack, there are these other kids who look at them and knock them off their celebrity-esque pedestals with one grimacing glance at their Smurfette lunch bags that five minutes earlier they were fairly certain could unlock the Caramilk secret.
I guess I’m confused as to the level we build our kids up before it all comes crumbling down.
Maybe we need to give them a taste of what the real world is like before they venture off on their own.
Maybe we need to tell them their clothes look weird or the food their Mom makes (wait a second!) looks terrible or their choice of four pony-tails and one braid screams Circus Freak. Not every day. Just every now and again.
We can’t protect our kids forever and school is a great way for kids to be introduced to a small taste of what they’ll have to tolerate and accept for the rest of their lives.
Different personalities, sometimes over-bearing, sometimes over-stimulated, sometimes over-the-top-potty-mouths are a better representation than what they’ve had at home for years leading up to that first day.
A hug for walking the length of the hallway without ever touching the grout–no more.
A gentle squeeze for spitting toothpaste on just the counter and not both the counter and faucet–afraid not.
A loving glance when there are only three spills at dinner (a family record)–nope.
We need to prepare our kids for what’s out there.
But is it okay if I pinch a few of those Debbie Downers first?
