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My Baby is Graduating from Grade School…and so am I

I made it through! Tomorrow is my last day as the mother of a grade schooler.  Ok, that might not sound like a lot but remember I became a grade school mom in 1989- before some of you were born, in a totally different century. I can’t keep saying I have one grown child and two little ones.

Our school does this wonderful thing where they send home a folder with a little something from each year and this collection of photos.

I look at those pictures and see how much and how little he has changed. He is so Zach. He is simply unfolding. He is exactly the same kid he always has been. Those pictures don’t show the rough days, the temper tantrums, the hurt feelings. They don’t show the triumphs or amazing adventures or the deep friendships.

Before he started kindergarten we taught him to be kind and to listen and to explore and to be brave. We poured on the love and promised not to break his spirit…and if you know Zach, you know he came to us with a big spirit, a big personality and not squashing him like a bug took some real dedication.

We sent him to school with our values, our culture, our traditions, our world view.

6 years ago, I entrusted the education of my baby to the strangers at Diamond Path. All I really asked was that they not ruin his love of learning. And they did great. They taught him to read and to write and math and art and music and so much else. They taught him about kids with disabilities and about kids from other countries and about kids who live with grandma or two moms or have two houses. They taught him to play with everyone and what it means to be responsible and what to do if someone is being a bully. They taught him that there are lots of wonderful grown ups in the world and some who kinda suck…and you have to respect all of them.

There is who they are, and how we get them started and then there is where they go. We as parents are so important and yet so powerless. We can’t control hardly any of the variables.

The early years are daunting. All we can do is keep providing loving guidance even when we have no idea where they are headed. The days are long and the years are short.
And I finally

have this whole grade school thing mastered and they are moving me up to middle school. Wish me luck… I get one quiet year and then I have to figure out what being a high school mom in this century looks like.

Maureen