First day at school

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 3:32 pm

Tomorrow will be the first day of school for my two twin sons.
Me and my wife are both excited and scared to death how they will cope, if they make new friends easily, if they are going to be good, attentive students, and all that stuff.
This means a dramatic change for them since they did not attend kindergarten and I suppose they have never spent more than two or three hours without their mum and/or dad. God, I just hope that this first day will be so exciting and so much fun for them that they will forget we are not there by their side.

Do you think we are being oversensitive here or is it something all parents have to go through ?
Strangely enough we had no such fears when our daughter went to school two years ago.....

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 3:50 pm

nah, you're not being oversensitive. I remember taking my oldest son in on his first day, and walking out feeling this incredible load of guilt for turning him over to an institution. He had a blast, I got over it. I'm guessing that they will put your boys in two different classrooms? That's the thinking here now, when possible, to let each kid shine in his own way. Just keep repeating that 'what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger' thing.

good luck to you!

John · Post by **John** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 4:17 pm

Speaking as a twin - keep the boys together if you can. We only got put in seperate classes at 13. It was always good to have your best friend (even though you don't think that at the time!) close by.
I'm sure they will be fine whatever happens.
My two girls should have returned to school today but the school has been flooded! So they are off 'till Monday. There was much rejoicing when the news came through!

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 4:48 pm

IP, I do think it's something we all go through. My son starts kindergarden on the 13th, and we are each very nervous about it but pretending not to be. I mean, he is trying hard not to show that he's scared, and I'm trying to make sure he knows it's okay to be scared, while, of course, hiding my own fear... He's been in fulltime preschool for 3 years, so he's good and socialized, but it's still a big deal. I think we just grit our teeth and do it...

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 5:02 pm

The boys will be in the same classroom. They are very happy being together (though occasional quarrels and fights are inevitable

) and we would hurt them if we tried to separate them.
My heart broke when one of them told me today that he is a bit scared how it is going to be tomorrow.

Gillibeanz · Post by **Gillibeanz** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 5:15 pm

Awwwww Pole - Muggy my heart goes out to you both. I remember my kids first day at school. My daughter clung onto me wailing at the top of her lungs and had to be prised off of me by the teacher twice a day for 2 whole weeks! In those days (shes 24 now) they started school at 5 years old and had to come home at lunchtime for the first 2 weeks so we had to go through it twice every day! Some of the kids cried for the first few days but my Claire was the only one who did it for the whole 2 weeks! The teacher assured me she was fine 5 minutes after id gone but it broke my heart. She loved school and was used to going to playgroup before but it was a wrench - for both of us!

My middle son took it all in his stride and settled in fine - no problems. My youngest son (now 15) started at 4 years old and couldn't wait to get there! He loved every minute of it and said the best thing was school dinners where he loved screwed up bits of meat in gravey (minced meat), called all meat ham, and didnt like pillows (ravioli!). He astounded the dinner ladies and became a legend by going back for 5 helpings of everything! (they must have thought I starved him!).

The one thing i've learnt over the years is things never change. You will then worry about them going to junior school, then senior school, then college, university and starting their first job. It doesn't get any easier the older they get as you have less control over everything they do to be able to kiss and make it better for them!

They will be fine. You will be fine. Make the most of these moments - they grow so fast, and before you know it they will be worrying about thier own kids - and you like me will be wishing for those precious moments again.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 6:16 pm

Hope their first day was OK. I too had a rite of passage on ths front today with my eldest starting secondary, aged 11.5. He was a bit anxious about it in advance, but of course came home that little bit taler and with extra swagger in his step. The big kids (up to 15 or 16) started later in the morning so they weren't all terrified on arrival.

Tim(e) · Post by **Tim(e)** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 8:41 pm

IP, you shouldn't get too concerned about your kids as even if they feel a little "scared", they will soon fit in and that fear will become a faded memory. After all, this is their first step into the real world (relatively speaking) and once they start to discover how to use a whole raft of new social skills, you will be the one starting to be afraid

In some ways I envy those of you whose kids didn't want to stay without you... my son forgot we existed from almost the moment he stepped into the kindergarten classroom for the first time. He was to pre-occupied with all of the new stuff and new kids... but he is a real social animal, so I must say I wasn't surprised in the least.

Just as an amusing aside, a couple of months later when we took him to a fellow classmates birthday party, one of the fathers I was talking to, upon discovering my boy was "Declan", informed me that his daughter had told him that all of the girls in the class would chase him and kiss him when they caught him. I was a little dubious, but recently when we went to another party after he had been away for a week with a very bad flu, all of the girls looking very concerned, surrounded him as soon as he arrived and started making sure he was ok, offering him sweets and generally fawning over him etc etc.

He is only five and he is getting the sort of treatment I could only dream about all of my life