My Firstborn Started Kindergarten

My firstborn child is officially in full-time public school. 

My husband and I agreed to put our daughter in Spanish immersion program for kindergarten mostly because she’s very bright and he was afraid she’d be bored in regular kindergarten. But all 3 of us were a bit nervous how it would start out because we’ve heard from other parents that it’s totally worth it but the first few weeks are rough. I told him he’d be mainly responsible for helping her with the Spanish (he’s fluent and has 2 degrees in it) and I can help her with the emotional support. 

What I was most dreading was the early mornings. Her school schedule is 7:25am to 2:45pm which is unusually early as I suspected because everyone I tell it to has been surprised too. She’s not a morning person - wakes up naturally around 7:40am and stays in bed for 15-20 minutes then takes her time getting dressed then coming out to eat breakfast. Our new routine has been a rude awakening for our whole family, except maybe for our toddler who likes to wake up around 6:20am. 

6:00am - my husband gets up and helps her get dressed, feeds her breakfast, and brushes her teeth and hair. I pack her lunch the night before. I get up and start getting myself ready and fed, and feed my toddler who is usually hangry cuz he hates eating dinner. 

6:45am - I drive my daughter to school. The first day took 50 minutes. I’m told it gets better - I sure hope so! My husband cleans up breakfast, gets our toddler dressed and diaper changed, and gets ready for work.

7:30-7:45am - I get home and my husband leaves for work. 

2:15pm - I leave to pick up our kindergarten. The pickup line is even worse than the dropoff line. It took over an hour the first day!! Soul-draining in the heat with a bored toddler. 

I fully expected tantrums after school everyday for at least the first week, which I tried to prevent by packing her a lunch that is dense with protein, fat, and fiber. And I hand her water and multiple snacks when I pick her up because there is a bit of a line leaving the school.

She was worried about not understanding the teacher who would only be speaking in Spanish  and about potential bullies. My husband and I talked her thru these issues several times beforehand which has seemed to help. 

She did have a short tantrum in the car when I picked her up the first day because I pointed out she forgot her lunchbox and water, and she was afraid some kid would take them. I convinced her she’d get it back or we’d buy new ones. She didn’t seem daunted by the Spanish and my husband had fun reviewing the words of colors at dinner and bedtime. Her pronunciation is clumsy and she said she’s better at speaking Chinese haha. Thankfully there were no major bullies. She said a boy laughed at her and I said it’s hard to tell what kids are laughing about, but he probably wasn’t trying to make fun of her. 

I asked what her favorite part of the day was and she said recess. I was happy to hear that she saw an older church friend in the hallway and played with him at recess.

I was looking forward to less sibling fighting during the day but also really worried my toddler boy would miss her during the day because she is the talkative, loud, and fun director of their play, but he never mentioned her! We went in outings and I tried to teach him more about the alphabet at home but he preferred other toys. I was hoping for a happy sibling reunion in the afternoon but they immediately started fighting, I think cuz she was hangry and he was tired. 

I am exhausted but we’re doing it and there’s no going back!