First Day of School

After a wonderful summer culminated with s’mores and snuggles, it was time for the first day of new school. The new school is the early childhood development at Hosmer Elementary in Watertown. Today we meet his teacher and have a classroom visit. After two nights staying up well past his bedtime, Bingham was a handful this morning. He protested all pants with buttons because they are oppressive. This lead to kicking, screaming, and crying like we were subjecting him to some foreign torture. We were only asking him to put pants on. After reasoning, threats, and incentives were no avail, we retreated to a cease fire. Both sides reconsidered their position. We allowed Bingham to come downstairs, eat his eggs with cheese, and restart deliberation on first day attire. As pictured above, he picked out a casual pair of light blue summer pants complimented with a canary yellow pocket T-shirt. He told us he looked handsome. We all agreed that he was indeed handsome.

We returned home. He received an envelope from his new teacher, Mrs. Delaney. She wrote a special note to him that had star sprinkles in a clear plastic bag. It talked about how he might be nervous for his first day. Despite his nervousness, he could sprinkle these stars underneath his pillow at night. They would bring him calm and a restful night anticipating his first real day of school. The letter did not mention any cleaning fee or associated labor with finding these little stars strewn in the comforter and mattress.

Alas, his first day was a blast…rhyme intended. He said his favorite part of the day was “nap time” because it is short. I surmise it is about 15 minutes of quiet time so the teacher can catch her breath and clean up. He got a chance to go to the big boy bathroom since the bathroom in the classroom was occupied when he needed to go. He really wanted to tell us that. He went on and on about Penelope the T. rex from a story time book. He also counted the quarters on the counter and told me they worth 25 cents. All in all I think it was a successful first day of school. Now we just need to figure out how to occupy him from the end of school to dinner time…wish us luck.

My Lesson: I saw a LinkedIn post of a dad that was doing pick up and drop off. He was a VP for a major pharmaceutical company. He made the point of saying he wouldn’t be preoccupied at work and would take the time for these moments. On Tuesday, I text my boss that I was missing our meeting at 10am so I could be present for the parent/teacher/student orientation. I put my phone aside and missed the 60 minute budget review. I have a hard time missing things. My wife is much better at separate work and family….me not so much. I wondered if Bingham noticed. He certainly makes comments about, dad working and asking me to stop to play with him. My heart melts every time. So the lesson is guess what, you won’t miss a promotion or key thing at work by being present with you family. You just have to make a conscious decision not to be distracted.

Love,
Dad