Kindergarten

Yesterday I received an e-mail from the day-care director at Noah's Ark and the subject title was "Too early to start thinking about Kindergarten?"  AHHHHHH! Heck yes, it is too early!  Well, that was my initial response but after taking a few deep breaths and reading through the rest of the e-mail I started to calm down a bit.  Kindergarten?  Seriously?  She is still my baby!  A summer baby, which in turn means that as parents we have to decide if our child is going to be a youngest or an oldest.  The reason the director was asking this question is that they will plan Jentry's preschool "journey" accordingly.  If we plan to send Jentry to kindergarten early, then she will move from the Big Turtles room in June, then spend just this summer in the Koalas room, and then move into the Pandas room at the end of August.  Seems like an awful lot of moving/growing up in a very short period of time!  However, this ensures that she is in the classroom with the same peers that will be in her grade level, and that they are working on the skills at the appropriate times to best ensure they are nice and prepared for starting school!

Shortly after Jentry was born and I first began to realize that I, myself, had a "summer baby" and would someday have to determine when she started school, a fellow "summer baby" friend of mine offered some advice.  "Do not rush her or she will pay you back by being a lifetime student, write that down." OK, so he didn't really say "write that down," but I had to add it because it reminded me a little of Van Wilder. :)  It should be noted that this was coming from someone who after several (8 but who is counting?) years of taking college courses still had no clear career direction.  Regardless, it definitely made me think about how expensive my decision could become.

At the time, it felt like kindergarten was forever away and it was easy to simply say the oh so common, "Every child is different and when the time comes we will determine whether or not we feel she is ready." Who knew that three years would go by like a flash and I would sitting here writing about kindergarten? Well, I guess the time has come and I am proud to say that I feel Jentry is ready. In fact, some days she acts like she is ready for high school!

Now that I have had time to calm down and really think about this question, it is really not that big of deal. It’s not like it can’t be changed if I happen to change my mind, right?  In the end, I guess it is better to be ahead than behind.