I've had a fair amount of worry over whether or not Aaron should begin school this year. Having just turned five less than a month ago, he is one of the youngest kids in his class. My indecision was compounded when I read Boys Adrift, and Dr. Sax gave compelling evidence for why many boys have greater academic success when they wait until age 6 to begin school.
I think a big part of my inner conflict was due to the fact that I respected, and even agreed with, Dr. Sax, and yet, it felt so right to let Aaron go to kindergarten. Really, in many ways I felt like I was creating my own struggle because I always felt the Spirit quietly whispering, This is right. This is right. This is right, but I still kept second guessing myself, Should I really send Aaron to kindergarten this year?
In the end, I felt confident trusting those spiritual promptings because I had done my part to study, research, observe, think about, discuss, and weigh all our options, and after all of that, it felt right to send him to school this year. I used my mind and my heart to make this decision, and because of that, I have felt a great amount of peace of mind.
And today, as Aaron counted down the minutes until it was time to leave and buckled his backpack and walked ahead of me down the sidewalk, there wasn't a smidgeon of anxiety. Only excitement and happiness. In fact, when my friend asked me how I was doing and I saw a volunteer handing out packs of tissues, I realized with a jolt that I wasn't crying. I had been so sure that I would be. In fact, I felt bad that I wasn't. It almost felt like I wanted him to leave me, which was far, far, far from the case.
This is maybe a more serious post than I was intending. It definitely didn't feel like a serious day. It felt fun and happy. But there were some serious days in the months leading up to it. I certainly don't think this is for sure the absolute, end-all, forever answer. It might be. But most likely, I will be considering these questions again and again as my children grow up.
But for now, we will soak up every precious minute of these glorious days of kindergarten.
It's tough, isn't it? When you have a boy with a late birthday and the conventional wisdom says one thing and your heart says another? My son has a late mid-August birthday, so he was barely 5 when Kindergarten started. We too thought long and hard about whether to send him or wait a year. But for us, as with you, it just felt right to send him. He would have been bored to tears (and probably started causing trouble because of it!) if we'd condemned him to another year of preschool. Was he as good with a pencil as some of his peers? No. And many years later he still isn't, so I'm glad we didn't wait for that! :) Now he is 18 and leaving for college, and I think it's all worked out pretty well :)
ReplyDeleteAwwwwwwwwwww that must of been so hard for you. *hugs*
ReplyDeleteThat whole birthday/cut-off thing can make things so tricky. (((big huge hugs))) Hope his year is amazing!!
ReplyDeleteYay! Good luck to your little guy. My oldest turned 5 just 5 days before he started kindergarten. He's in 2nd grade now and doing fine. It was a hard decision like yours was, but I prayed and felt it was right too. His kindergarten year wasn't all easy though. There were definite difficulties due to his age and maturity, but I still feel it was the right decision. Your son will love school!
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