PreachTeach: Blog by Erica

To my son’s Kindergarten Teacher,

I am sorry.  I am sorry because I still think of my baby like this; 

But he is not a baby anymore.  He eats hamburgers topped with bacon, and drinks chocolate milk.  He brushes his own teeth.  He dresses himself in basketball jerseys and red shorts.  His little brother is his “best buddy,” and he sings silly songs to his new baby sister.  He is a big boy.

And while I am so proud of him, it makes me sad to think that tomorrow he will walk into your classroom because it is simply evidence that he is growing up.  So I am sorry, because it does make me sad.

I will cry.  I will ask lots of questions.  I will ask lots of stupid questions.  I will try my best not to hover, but I may linger just a little longer than I should.

So, please love him.  Understand that he is just a child learning to tie his shoes, figuring out how to share, and slowly defining his moral compass of what is right and wrong.

Please give him a hug and tell him it will be okay.

Please encourage him to do better and to make good choices.

Please enlighten him and help him wonder about new things.  I would rather he question more than he know.

Please engage him in conversations and ask him about things he likes (Mario, the Wii, and his little brother).

He is sensitive.  Be gentle.

He is smart.  Challenge him.

He is funny.  Enjoy him.

He is a know-it-all, a rule-follower (if they are his rules), a bossy pants, and an 8,497-questions-a-day asker.  Please bare with him.

While there is this wonderful world you are about to create for him called “Kindergarten,” please remember that he has a mother who is having a hard time “letting go.” Please bare with her (and don’t hate him for it!).

So to my son’s Kindergarten Teacher, please teach my child, love him as if he were your own, have patience with his mother, and please don’t forget that he is MY baby, no matter how big he grows or how smart he gets.

Sincerely,

A (crying) Mom