Onward

by The Flamingo

Today my 6 year old son started first grade. For the past couple of months an avalanche of emotions took over my heart and mind. I associate the end of his kindergarten years with the end of his “young” childhood, the first seven years of his life, the most innocent, sweet and carefree time. 

He was happy when he finished kindergarten, he told me he is ready for “real” school. I asked him why was he so excited about it. He pointed out that now he will eat with the big kids in the cafeteria, he will read all the National Geographic books in his classroom library and that he will play math games with his wonderful and kind teachers. So this day turned out to be his biggest expectation the whole year. Not the holiday trips we took, not the toys we bought, not Christmas, but the start of first grade. 

And so I realised how different his childhood is from mine. I remember being terrified on my first day, looking with angst at my unsmiling, stern and cold teacher and I am so relieved that this is not the case for my son as well. I am so grateful that he is having a better experience than I did, a whole new type of education that will equip him better emotionally, for his life to come. 

He still plays with his wooden trains, builds his Burj Khalifas with legos around the house and still hugs and talks to Winnie the Pooh. But at the same time, he dreams about becoming an imagineer for Disneyland, designs playgrounds and roller coasters out of random things and speaks of his future and how his life is going to be like when he will be an adult. He asked me to visit the University in Zurich together, because he saw a Disney cartoon about this subject and he was fascinated. I truly hope he will love school, it will make things so much easier for him in life. 

I looked at him this morning, smart in his PE uniform, with his new huge backpack which he picked out for himself, with his smiling face and I said to myself that this is the best I’ve done so far, he is my pride and joy. He also took his Rabbit on his way to school, he wouldn’t leave him home. So with Rabbit in his hand, backpack on his shoulders and a ring as a present for his girlfriend in his pocket he started first grade.

Photo from Flamingo‘s archive.