How is it that dropping my daughter off for her first day of high school almost felt like the first day of kindergarten? How is it that I spent more time awake in the middle of the night than she probably did…worrying about the transition?
I was doing pretty okay about all of this until we attended her Open House the night before. All of my kids brought their supplies to put them into their lockers. No one had any trouble opening their locks. We then took their schedules and went to each class, meeting the teachers. But with my daughter, it felt different.
She is not getting the same opportunity most of the kids there had, starting out together in the middle school. She is coming from an entirely different school district, from a K-8 school and from a school that is so small the principal knows every single student by name. She is also coming from a school where it took five steps to get from one class to another.
Now we were walking through this huge high school campus, filled with hundreds of students. She felt overwhelmed. Her classes are located all over the place and trying to find them was confusing. She was definitely worried and if I were to guess, a bit scared.
I think it will be these next two days that will be the most difficult to get through (for both of us). Today (Wednesday) was freshman orientation, so at least the other students won’t be there. The first day is always hard but then I think that Thursday is going to be even more difficult because that’s when all the students will be there.
Now I am going to spend all day thinking about her and counting down the hours until I can pick her up. I am really hoping she has good things to say. It will help me to sleep better.
What transitions is your family facing this school year?
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Mixed Feelings on First Day of School
Photo by Pyro Non-Sense in Flickr