The Ceremonial First Day of School:  The Sign of the Times

It’s that time of the year again; attempts for last-minute summer getaways, staring at an aisle of school supplies looking for .77 ounce glue sticks, and the relatively light traffic during your work commute coming to an end. These are the telltale signs indicating to us that summer is winding down and the start of the school year looms ahead. For me, the first day of school brings out mixed emotions which I hope, is on par with most parents. Our kids are getting older (sad face) but we’re excited to see what the new school year holds for them (happy face). My son is a 10-year-old rising 5th grader and the fact that we now have a preteen on our hands is difficult enough to navigate. You throw in peer pressure, hormonal changes, and pop culture influence and there’s potential for parent/child combustion. I know, I’m being uber dramatic but these days I feel  I need to tap into my fatherly intuition a lot more when I have conversations with my son. Now that school is upon us it adds a whole different dynamic which wasn’t there during the summer.

With each school year comes new milestones for both my son and my 6-year-old daughter who will be entering the 1st grade. School just got real for her. This will be the last year the both of them will be attending the same school…forever. In our school district, middle school is from the 6th through 8th grades and my son will have already graduated high school before my daughter enters the 9th grade. I’m not quite sure why this makes me sad but it does.

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You throw in peer pressure, hormonal changes, and pop culture influence and there’s potential for parent/child combustion.

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Milestones should be recorded. The who, what, when, where, and why of it all should be remembered, which brings me to the point of this blog post. You’ve seen them everywhere on social media. Those “First Day of School” signs held by these kids, photos of which are plastered throughout Facebook and Instagram are a great way to record these fleeting moments, many of which fly by with a blink of an eye because let’s be honest…first day of school equals chaos.

If you just google “First Day of School Signs” you’ll find a plethora of templates, ideas, and printouts to use. What grade is your little one going into? What’s their favorite color, subject, food? What do they want to be when they grow up? Last year my wife’s boss bought us a small chalkboard knowing our baby girl was starting Kindergarten and we’d want to capture this special moment. FYI, when our son started the big K five years ago, my darling wife cried at the school bus stop and hugged a stranger who was going through the same thing with her son. I expected similar emotions last year but surprisingly not a tear was shed.

I remember my wife tasked me the night before the first day of school to write something on the chalkboard for both kids. I didn’t even know we had chalk. Considering my handwriting is a step above chicken scratch, this year I chose the high tech route. It’s actually more of the modern route but nonetheless, the chalkboard is now retired after its one and only season on the playing field.

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…my darling wife cried at the school bus stop and hugged a stranger…

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In life, we experience countless firsts. As a father, I cherish much more now than in my younger years, not only my firsts but my family’s firsts. I consider them to be one and the same. We live in a world where it’s as simple as reaching into your pocket and tapping a screen to be able to relive these moments that otherwise be a struggle to remember. The look on your child’s face when they lose their first tooth. The feeling of being carefree again when you buy the convertible of your dreams even though it’s nowhere near the level of practicality you think you need. Or the emotions of your wife when her only son waves goodbye as he walks up the steps of the school bus on his first day of kindergarten. Honestly, I’m glad she cried that day. At least I know I wasn’t the only one.