Kindergarten 101

I realize that it is hard for me to write this post without a certain measure of emotion, a certain lump in my throat. This is it. This is the beginning of the fast forward button, those 13 years that fly faster than is humanly possible. This is his experience, his entrance into the rat race, his story. Since this is my creative forum, I do not feel embarrassed to say it: I am petrified.We dropped Big B off this morning, lickety split, a kiss and a have a great day, at his first day of Kindergarten. We are very happy with his school, his teacher, and the number of friends he knows in his class...but there is still a certain nostalgia for those days when he was just so little, so HOME. I am ready for this though, and goodness knows Big B is. He is smart, and I mean smart. He is ready to learn answers to questions I don't even know he has. Even his classroom--room 101--seems a fitting beginning for a lifetime of learning. This boy has a willing and open mind, and I am thrilled to see what fills it.

I cannot exactly put the importance of this day into words, so I have excerpted some from Robert Fulghum.

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN
A guide for Global Leadership

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:

- Share everything.
- Play fair.
- Don't hit people.
- Put things back where you found them.
- Clean up your own mess.
- Don't take things that aren't yours.
- Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
- Wash your hands before you eat.
- Flush.
- Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
- Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
- Take a nap every afternoon.
- When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
- Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
- Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
- And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.Big B: You have strong roots. Stick to them. They will serve you well. I'll have a snack for you when you get home.