Your Children Adapt Faster Than Anything

For those parents out there who have kids starting a new school or perhaps going away to school for the first time on their own where they won't see you all day, don't worry. It is a big deal for our kids to be away from us, especially for a whole day. Even a bigger deal if they haven't been away from us before. For those of you concerned about this type of thing about to happen to your child, read on.

My little girl started grade one this year and I was nervous. She was excited. She had attended the same school for kindergarten and had a hard time the first month or so. This was because she was quite young and it was her first time away from her mother. Needless to say, I was concerned again.

I wasn't worried about the fact that she was going to be away from us for full days, every day of the week, I had grown to accept that. What I was most concerned about was the fact that she had made some good friends in kindergarten. She used to play with them every day and we even arranged play dates at the house for them. What concerned me most was the fact that her good friends were not returning to the school this year.

My daughter's friends were going to be attending different schools for grade 1. These sweet kids who all became so close so quickly, were now being taken away from each other. So my little girl and I went to school for her first day of grade 1. She had been telling me all summer that she was looking forward to it and that she was excited. However, when we arrived, she changed. She suddenly was a little hesitant to go play with any of the kids and she didn't want to leave my side. This wasn't the little girl I knew who had come to love going to school so much the previous year.

When the bell rang to line up, she went to line up with her new teacher, who is very good with the kids by the way, and she looked kind of sad but was putting on a brave face, determined not to cry. Just so you all know, she is a December baby so she is the youngest in her class.

The teacher led the kids off to the classroom and she gave me a big hug and a kiss and I told her how be would be there when school finished and would be waiting for her to come out of the doors.

I went home thinking that my little girl was going to be miserable because her friends were gone and to make matters a little more interesting, she is in a class of 12 kids with only two other girls. I resolved to try and not get too upset about it and figured if she wanted big hugs at the end of the day I would be there and I would take her anywhere she wanted to go for dinner.

The end of the day came quickly and I went to pick her up. The bell rang to end classes and I waited in the school yard for her to come out, prepared for whatever. A group of kids started coming out and then I saw my little girl. She saw me, came running over and said "Hi Daddy, I'll be right back." She dropped off her back pack and ran to go play with a couple of her new friends. Each time a called her to get going she asked if she could play a little longer. She didn't want to leave and to be honest, she probably felt like I was cramping her style.

Just like that, my little girl had gotten over the fact that her good friends were not around and she immediately made new friends. I was relieved and grateful that she adapted so quickly. Take this story to heart, your kids will adapt quickly and the ones who will probably worry most about it is you. By the way, every day since she leaves me in the dust and can't get to school fast enough. She's only five now. I'm hoping she remembers me when she is fifteen.