Starting school

Okay so many of you have already sent your little ones off to Kindergarten, but for us, it has not started yet. Yesterday I finally sat down to fill out the enrollment papers for my daughter’s Kindergarten year. I admit it, I had been putting it off as long as possible, and I am usually not a procrastinator. But, as an educator myself, I was apprehensive about peering under the hood of another school’s process. How could they possibly live up to my admittedly super high, reasonably so, expectations?

Most of it was to be expected, emergency info, vaccine info, pick-up procedure agreement, etc. And I am fine with this, logistics are necessary. But one form stuck out to me… the family questionnaire (hear foreboding music in the background). This form is the only one where you can offer information about your child. This is your space (two pages) to tell them about your child, who they are, your hopes and dreams for their school year and most importantly to me, your expectations. Two pages! How on earth am I supposed to relay my child, and my expectations for the school in guiding her developing consciousness, in just two pages?!

Saddled with this ridiculous challenge I sloshed my way through their questions. When I came to the last question, “what are your expectations for your child’s year?” I could contain myself no more; I unleashed my mama-bear and wrote the following poem:

I expect you to treat her with the utmost care and appreciation

I expect you to guide her through her challenges

I expect you to teach her how to be in relationship with her own power, by you being in relationship to yours

I expect you to learn from her

I expect you to help her to see other options when she gets frustrated, without making her feel bad for not knowing them in the first place

I expect you to be engaged in your own learning and self-reflection

I expect you to care more for the process that the outcome

I expect the classroom environment to reflect the learning you hope to inspire in the children

I expect you to enjoy her and to enjoy yourself in the process

I expect you to be patient with yourself as you learn how to relate to her

I expect you to encourage her, showing her new avenues for learning

I expect you to engage her on every level

I expect you to watch all the children and to pay attention to the interpersonal dynamics amongst them, offering guidance when needed, but not overpowering their learning.

I expect you to love her as all teachers ought to love their students, for the greatness that resides in each of them, that greatness which pours out of them when they are nurtured appropriately

I expect you to learn as much or more than you teach

I expect you to teach in time with the rhythm of all the children in your class

I expect you to deliver the right information, at the right time, in the right way

I expect you to relax and have fun

Is that too much to ask?