Back to School

Kristi: How ya doing Naissa?
Naissa: I'm feeling a little nervous.

Kristi: About what?

Naissa: What if the kids at school laugh at me?

Kristi: Why would they laugh at you?

Naissa: Because I do the chicken dance.

Kristi is at a loss for words

Naissa brushes her teeth and comes back.

Naissa: Will the sun be up yet when I have to go to school?

With all the excitement of going back to school I think the anxiety gets covered up. It's easy to hide behind a new backpack or new outfit or seeing some of your friends you haven't seen all Summer. Finding out you are in the same class as some of those friends is great but still the unknown beckons loudly and your stomach aches a little and it's hard to eat dinner and you can't fall asleep and when you finally do you wake up to the sound of the neighbors dog and you are right back where you started.....awake! The kids are not alone in this, us parents feel it too. We ask many of the same questions the kids are asking. Will the teacher be nice or mean? Will they give lots of homework? Will they give lots of homework on the first day of school? Will my kids fall asleep in class on the first day because they barely slept all night? Will my kids still be friends with the same kids? Will they know what to do and where to go and get there in time if they have to go to the bathroom? Will they do well this year? Will they feel left out? Will girls be girls and be mean and nasty one minute and best friends the next? Will boys be boys and beat each other up on the basketball court both physically and verbally and then high five each other later? Will my child feel safe? Will they be able to develop into the person God created them to be without too many scars from their childhood....I have heard many people say that tough times make tough people but us moms hate to see our children hurting. And kids these days can be just so mean.

So many thoughts going on the first day of school. I'm sure there will be less of them on the second day and hopefully even less on the third day. That's how it goes. Until the new becomes the regular, the usual, the norm. We all just want our kids to be okay, do well, make friends, learn good stuff, be safe and to come home with a smile at the end of the day.