Kindergarten is half days here, so I get the pleasure of dropping everything in the middle of the day and load 3 kids in the rig, run to town, drop one off, and come back home (or try to beat my last record time at the grocery store so that I can get back, get the kids fed, put the baby down for a nap, and not be late for tutoring). I complain but I guess secretly I don’t mind so much because I get an extra half day with my little girl!
I get so tickled at the Kindergarten drop off routine. Parents and day care providers show up with their appointed children. The kids run around the school yard for a while until the adults have them go get in line. The line forms on the sidewalk and there’s a little wooden fence right next to it to keep kids off of the landscaping. The kids line up along the fence and the adults line up in the grass, just off the other side of the sidewalk…each one standing across from their child. So now we have 2 lines! And I’m just waiting for someone to start yelling, “Red Rover, Red Rover!” But no one ever does.
The parents smile with pride at their big girl/boy going to school…and scold them when they climb on the fence or push in line (I’ve actually learned a few kids’ names this way because of the repetition). Some parents know each other and they visit, oblivious to anything around them…including their child who is climbing in the fence which makes all the other kids want to climb on it too because so-and-so’s mom lets them do it. Some parents stand all rigid and look like they’re on a mission. Some stand nonchalant like they’re just too cool for school. And then there’s the rebel parents who refuse to stand in the parent line like the others. They are sure to stand a few feet away…two or ten…or even all the way across the school yard so that they are the first ones back to the car. The men are the funniest. They feel kind of awkward being there but they secretly really like it and are resisting the urge to run thru the leaves with their child.
Shortly, someone from the school comes out and leads the line of kids to their appointed classroom. After the parade of waves and kiss-blowing the parents and day care providers flood out from the school.
4 comments:
Wow, I just drop Bubba off and tell him to "walk with purpose" straight to his classroom or he will have to go to the office for a tardy slip.
Did someone tell you that is how it worked or did you just kinda' go with the flow?
I've always been a people watcher, so this story made me laugh. Observing how folks act in groups always cracks me up. I think you should wear funny hats and stand on your head while you're in line. And if any one asks you what you're doing, or better yet ignores your silliness and just tries to make conversation, speak to them straightfaced in jibberish. Love you! :)
Too funny, Amber!
Jenni, it's half day K and she is in the afternoon. So they cant go thru the halls to their classroom (and disrupt all the other classes...the K rooms are on the far side of the building, of course). They have to wait outside until a teacher or assistant comes and leads the whole line to class. It's actually 2 classes of kids.
The morning K classes do just like all the other kids. But they dont want the afternoon kids there too early because the teachers are snuffing down lunch between AM and PM classes.
Next year they are talking about going to full day K (and Jessica will be in K next year).
I heart full day K.
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