Today, my love, is your first day of kindergarten. You will wear the new dress I bought you, excitedly. You will fight me as I struggle to pull your hair into a ponytail. You will pick at your breakfast, body full of nerves. You will hug my leg in fear as the big yellow school bus approaches, and for the first time you make your way on. Off to school you will go, without me.
You might walk into your kindergarten classroom full of anxiety, eyes searching wildly for someone, anyone, that you recognize. You will walk to your cubby and hang up your backpack timidly, wondering who will be next to you and if you’ll like her.
You might be scared you don’t know where the bathroom is, or how long it is until lunchtime, or whether you’ll have anyone to play with at recess.
Yes, there will be fear, nerves, and anxiety. There will be worry. But there will also be wonder, and laughter, and amazement. On this, you must believe me.
Today, you start your education. Today you walk into the world not just a little girl, but a kindergartener, ready to learn about everything the world has to offer.
You will be who you will be, and my promise to you is that I will help you be the best you there is. But what I wish for you, more than anything, is that you will love learning the way I do. When you read, I hope you will devour books the way I did, nestling into your favorite spot and settling in to a good book. When you look at a tricky math problem, I hope you’ll see it as a challenge you can no doubt overcome. When you learn about history, and science and coding, I know you’ll be astonished and saddened and thrilled, all at the same time
School is not the only place you’ll learn about the world – in fact it may well be a very small addition to lifelong education. But when you are in kindergarten and throughout school, please remember these things.
- Be curious. Ask questions, even if you think they might be silly. If you are wondering about something, others may be too.
- Be confident. Raise your hand when you know an answer. Don’t be shy. Be proud and strong and if someone is doing something you know is wrong, don’t hesitate to call them out on it.
- Be kind. Not only to your fellow classmates, but to your teachers and the cafeteria workers and everyone you meet. Including yourself.
- Try hard. There will be days in kindergarten when you feel like giving up. When you feel stupid and when you don’t think you can figure it out. Keep trying.
- Be creative. Do it your way, even if it’s different than what everyone else is doing.
- HAVE FUN. It’s just kindergarten after all!
