School!

This morning, Mikhail started Nursery proper. No more orientation. No more mommies in the classroom. Just children, and teachers. While waiting for class to start at 8am, I could sense that every parent accompanying their child was emitting nervous vibes. It was as if we were ALL hoping and praying in our hearts that our babies would not cry on the first day of school. As anxious as we parents are, our babies are even more anxious inside. One mommy even said, "Satu-satu muka cramp!". Hahaha. Nervous laughter.

And then the classroom door opened, and the smiling principal welcomed the children in by greeting them with "Welcome to school!". One by one they all went in, slowly letting go of whoever's hands they were holding, and from there the teachers took over. I told Mikhail a white lie - that mommy will be waiting outside. Well, I don't want my baby to envision me at home sweet home while he is seated with strangers. Not on the first few days of school anyway. I guess the lie was worth it; he said ok and joined his classmates at a table. I checked that he had placed his water bottle at the correct place, clearly labelled with his name. He did not turn back to look at me. He was playing with some blocks. Good! I thought.

As I walked out and left, other parents were doing the same thing. Reassuring their child, then walk out of the classroom with a heavy heart and slow, dragging steps. Once the door was closed, the heavy hearts walked away, wishing for 10am to come quick. At least I did. For the first time in his life, I left Mikhail in a place with total strangers hoping that they'd take good care of him. Of course, prior to this, I have been surfing the Net and reading so many articles about first day of school for little kids. How they'd react, why they react the way they do, teachers' roles, parents' roles...everything. Call it kiasu or whatever, I just wanted to be the most overinformed mom on her kid's first day of school. So I put my trust in his teachers and went home, waiting for 10am.

Time check: 9.45am. I left the house to fetch my baby and when I reached his school, a few other parents were already there. 10 minutes later, the door opened, and we could go in and get our babies. Mikhail was sitting down very quietly beside another boy. I was two kids with tears in their eyes. One of them ran to his mother and hung on to her feet for dear life. Uh oh, I thought. Did my son cry? I wanted to ask his teachers but they were busy preparing for the next class and I could see that Mikhail was already looking forward to coming home with me. So I waved his teachers goodbye, acknowledged a few familiar parents, and once we were outside, I immediately 'attacked' my boy with this question - "How was school???"

And so he said he likes school and that his teachers are nice, and they opened his water bottle for him and they drew stars. Then he said there was a girl by the name of Sharifah, and another kid cried. Did Mikhail cry? I asked. No, he said.

An hour later at home, he told my mom that he too cried because he wanted to "be with mommy" but teacher told him it's alright, mommy will fetch u later, just sit down and draw ok?

I asked if he wants to go back to school tomorrow. "Yes!" he said. Do you like school? Yes! Are your teachers nice? Yes nice! Do you like your friends? Yes! Will you cry? No!

Things look positive.

He is looking forward to going back to school again tomorrow and even asked if he will be wearing the uniform or PE clothes. As for crying, well, when I left him he wasn't crying and when I fetched him he wasn't crying either. It's perfectly alright for him to cry on the first day of school when he sees other kids crying as it is a natural reaction for them to 'copy' others' behaviours, especially when they are uncertain. At this age, they may not want to admit that they did cry, but that's alright either. He wants to go to school and didn't tell me not to leave, so that's a positive outlook. I'm relieved!

Well, I'm keeping my fingers and everything crossed that he will always be happy in school. My baby is a big boy now!