I was 49 years old when I became Mimi for the first time and will celebrate my 55th birthday the middle of June. My husband and I keep ourselves fairly busy and I am always reminding him that we have the first 5 years with our grandchildren, after that, school starts and our time with them will be more limited. The first-born is of course the center of the universe in the family, and of course, gets ALL the attention and LOTS of it. With this, we all only have one to whom we focus all of our attention and energy on and for our first-born grandchild there were ten adults doting over him constantly! I don’t think he minded one bit. Also, if you missed my previous post on Grand Parenting Books you can read it here!
If I could have frozen time, I would have and yet I am however, amazed at what he has learned during these past 6 years. Our first-born grandchild will start Kindergarten this Fall and I’m confident he will love it because I know he’s ready for this next chapter in his life. I can only imagine what he will learn in all the years to come.
For the class of 2020, the coronavirus redefined the end of their education. For the class of 2033 – next year’s kindergarteners – it’s likely to shape the beginning in ways that have some parents and grandparents a little worried. I believe Kindergarten sets the tone for a child’s education. It’s a time of hugging teachers and sitting on carpets singing songs with classmates. And sending a child off to kindergarten is a milestone for both parents and grandparents too.
From time to time we try to prepare our grandson for kindergarten, even though we’re not exactly sure what it will look like for him. With no idea what August will be like, due to social distancing, we decided it might be unwise to keep talking up things like “Oh, it’s going to be so exciting when you ride the bus to school and you get to eat lunch in the cafeteria!” Riding the bus is still an unknown. So far no one has released a strategy for getting children to school without packing them into bench seats, not to mention school cafeterias may pose virus-spreading challenges as well. Another unknown is whether children will be required to wear masks and keep their distance from each other. Will his teachers be wearing masks? Will that be scary to him? If they’re not getting the interactive play and sharing of toys which are so much a part of their learning in a classroom setting, how will this change their Kindergarten experience? Since not everything has been formalized yet, what we do know, is that it's going to look very different, so we try to accept that he may not have the same experience his parents had but that doesn't mean it's not going to be a great experience!
Our job is to share with him the excitement around starting a new experience and so we decided to do just that. As a small gift, we bought him 2 new books to give him the night he attended his “drive-thru” graduation from Pre-School and we’ll read them together over the summer. You can find the two books he loves here and here on Amazon.
While our grandson is sure to have good days and bad days just like us all, I want him to remember that no matter what he is deeply LOVED and that there is much HOPE surrounding him:
Hope for the opportunities that school will give to him.
Hope for a wider diversity of kids he will get to meet and make friends with.
Hope for the chances he’ll have to show kindness to others who need it.
Hope for the chances he’ll have to receive kindness in the moments he may need it.
Hope for all the new and exciting ways his mind will be challenged.
Hope for any new ways that his heart will grow.
Our grandson has been raised to be kind, loving, compassionate, empathetic, and with a curious mind that is very eager to learn all he can. I know some things will change him, but we pray those changes bring him more fully and wholly to the person he is created to be.
I will always hold a special place in my heart for him because he is the one that made me a Mimi first. And just for the record, it’s not whether we love him the MOST, it’s just that we have loved him the LONGEST and because he was our first, there are some very unique and special memories that will always be just that!
Together, lets cherish this Grand season of life!
Mimi Jackie
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