This summer, we’ve been continuing our redecorating project in our house (more on that another time), so any spare time that would normally be spent writing for me, has been used on that.
My youngest had his final day at nursery, and I can use one word to describe it; fast!
My wife, our two other kids and I all went into the nursery building to see him get a gift, take some pictures of him, and leave with him. The whole experience took about 3 minutes. I told you it was fast. After two years of that being his day-to-day experience, and it was over, just like that.
At the time, he just went with it. We all went out to Big Licks for a nursery graduation/good report card treat, which was amazing, then home.
Once at home, the kids were finishing their ice creams, since they were so big, and our little graduate asked me a simple question: “Am I not going back to nursery again?” I answered, gently. Now, it’s not often we get to see our four year old restraining an emotional reaction to anything, but he was using all of his strength to hold it together. What started as a ‘Ok, I understand’ face, very quickly developed misty eyes. The second I saw this, and told him it’s ok to be sad at that, he leapt in for a hug and broke down.
Every child is different. Every experience through nursery and school may also be different for him than for his siblings. I know he will be fine, and in the last two weeks, he has recovered.
This is the story of parenthood, right? As they grow, we parents supervise their journey into life with less and less supervision, so as to build their ability to handle danger. As our ‘baby’ goes through life, he’s following in his brother and sister’s footsteps. As he does, my part is to help them all navigate and be resilient to life’s good and bad experiences, and all the in-betweens.
What an honour.
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