I remember my older daughter’s first day of preschool. I packed her little lunch in a bento box. I made her stand by the door so that I could take all of the typical “first day of school” photos. I buckled her in her car seat, and we drove down the road to the preschool. She was barely two years old, but she was really excited about the idea of “school.”
Having worked in our church nursery, children’s camps, and childcare, I already knew that the best thing to do was to “drop and run” or not linger in the classroom so that my daughter could easily transition to class. So, I walked her into her classroom, hung her backpack up, hugged her, and told her to have fun and that I’d be back in four hours. I turned for the door, and nothing could prepare me for her crumbling face and the screaming that ensued. I knew she was in good hands and was in a safe environment, so I kept walking to the parking lot.
Walking away from my two-year-old was the hardest thing I had to do.
I could not focus on work at all that day. I kept scrolling through the preschool’s Facebook page, looking to see if they posted any photos of my daughter. Mid-morning, the director texted me a picture of my daughter smiling with her new friends. And I knew all was well. When I picked her up, my daughter was so happy, and her teacher told me that she only cried for a few minutes before deciding to play with her new friends.
It took a few days for my daughter to adjust to getting dropped off at school, but then the tears stopped. She would happily walk into her class and start playing with her toys.
We repeated this scenario a few years later with my younger daughter, who started daycare at two years old, except this time, my husband dropped her off. Our daughter struggled that day to the point where the Director had to hold and cuddle her until she calmed down. Eventually, she got the hang of it, and the tears and shrieking stopped.
Those first several times, dropping my kids off at school was so hard. I questioned our decision to send both girls to pre-school/daycare at such a young age. I made many treks to my favorite coffee shop those first days of school to drown my sorrows in a giant iced caramel macchiato.
But you know what? Everything turned out just fine.
My daughters are four and (almost) six now and they are heading to pre-kindergarten and 1st grade. Over the years, I’ve watched them grow to love school and learning.
