Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Preparing for Preschool


In about half an hour I am going on my very first tour of a preschool.

Is it really time for this already?

I am so blessed to be able to spend all of my days at home with my children. I would not have it any other way; but that being said, I am always ready to drop them off at the nursery at church or with my wonderful mother once a month. Because I get to see so much of Micah, I have been looking forward to preschool for a year...

But now it's time to actually select a school and get him enrolled. He will be starting next fall.

My heart feels broken.

When I was looking at preschool options last year I saw three options: two days a week, three days a week, and five days a week. I was all about that five day option back then... now I'm just leaning towards three.

There are two things I am most grateful for about having children:

1) They are excellent little teachers, if we are humble enough to learn, and
2) They say the cutest, sweetest, funniest things.

But there is one part of parenthood that is brand new to me today...
The pain of letting your children go and grow.

It's something experienced mothers often try to warn young mothers about that we just can't grasp or imagine.

I don't know what it will be like to take my boy to school on his first day with his little backpack falling off his shoulder as he timidly walks through the long white halls of a strange, new place. And then leaving him there. With strangers.

But I do know that within a week or two he will be running down those halls filled with his colored creations. His backpack will be forgotten in the car- that's how great his excitement will be to start his day.

So our pain as mothers only needs to be temporary as we watch our children grow and go... then we can decide to embrace the joys of their new, changed life and share it with them.

I am excited for Micah to start preschool. He absolutely loves learning... although I'm not sure what he's going to learn there- seems to me like he ought to be starting a kindergarten curriculum- he is so smart!