Back to School
The sun is setting earlier and the evenings have a bit of a chill. The carts are full of shiny sneakers, flashy backpacks and duo-tangs in all of the 9 required colours. The back to school season is upon us. Cegep students have already started and kindergarten through secondary 5 will begin next week. This is the first time, as a parent, that I have a child going to school. It is an exciting milestone. Despite being in daycare and being used to a routine outside the home, Bea is starting REAL school next week and it is a major special event! We are all excited about this new step, but along with excitement comes some trepidation. Bea is working out some of her anxiety about how the routine will change (taking a bus!) and how there might be new challenges (making friends and scary auto-flushing toilets). We talk about these anxieties together, but we are also reading some fun `back to school’ themed books to manage our feelings and prepare.
Separation anxiety is a very normal reaction for kids going to school for the first time, or even transitioning from a pre-school or daycare setting to school. Kids need to feel reassured and anchored in their relationship to their primary care-giver. There are plenty of books which help address the stress of being away from parents in a school setting for the first time. I am a fan of The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. A former ballerina and Olympic athlete, Penn turned to writing children's books after her health prevented her from continuing the physically straining career she had begun. Inspired by her own daughter, she wrote The Kissing Hand in 1993. Since its publication this book has helped millions of families through the transitions of going to daycare, camp or school. In this book a Mama raccoon comforts her young raccoon who is going to school for the first time and is worried about missing home. She reassures him that her love will be with him all through the school day (or night in the case of a young raccoon). Many schools use this book to help Kindergarteners with the transition to school, but it is also available at the Lennoxville Library to borrow for some advance preparation. Other titles which may be inspiring for nervous kindergarteners: Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes and Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney. Even if your little one is very confident about this big step, it is not a bad idea to talk about the feelings which might come up in the first weeks, and share a few extra snuggles while you're at it.
I always loved going back to school. I was a lucky kid who liked school, and September was always a happy reunion with my friends and a time for new sweaters. I know not everyone has this same love for back to school. The literary character I most deeply associate with the back to school joy I have always enjoyed is the famous Harry Potter. Poor young Potter, who slept in a bedroom cupboard under the stairs, has the ultimate first days of school experience. He receives a letter delivered by an owl announcing his wizard status and inviting him to a prestigious school far away from his terrible foster family. In the same week he discovers he is blessed with wealth, and among the most famous wizards of all time. Harry has a tumultuous time at school, with having to save humanity over and over from dark magic, but with each book in which he is studying we get to feel the excited anticipation he feels returning to Hogwarts for school. Reading Harry Potter was a critical life step for me, and even though it has been more that 20 years since it was originally published, the story and its magic are timeless. As a read-alone book I would recommend Harry Potter for 5th graders and up, but this spring we read aloud the first book to Bea - age 5, and while some of it was over her head, it was a worthwhile experience of reading a book together as a family. The entire series is available at the Lennoxville Library, in French and English, and on audio book as well!
It has been 7 years since I last "went back to school" as the autumn leaves change colour. I sometimes miss the excitement of new classes and new friends and fresh new clothes. I am vicariously enjoying this beginning now through my daughter and I hope that she will love books and school as much as I have.