First Day of School

Dropped the kids off for their first day of school. My daughter is in a highly gifted program where the fifth and sixth graders actually attend classes at the nearby junior high, though most of their classes are with other kids their age rather than with junior high age kids and the elementary age kids are on a different school day schedule than the older kids (sort of a compromise between a normal elementary schedule and a normal junior high schedule).

Still, this is her first year at the new school and she's somewhat nervous about it, as is my wife, who handled dropping off our daughter this morning so she could help her find her new classroom and such. I'm waiting to see what happens before I start worrying too much on this one, though I will undoubtedly worry at some point.

My son is nervous about being at school without his sister there. I've tried to remind him that this will be the first time he's ever come back to the same school with the same teacher and the same classmates (they combine 1/2nd grade classes for HG), so he should be feeling confident. But he's anxious and increasingly aware that it's hard for him to find friends to play with. This morning he said that no one understands his sense of humor.

It's one of the difficult aspects of being a parent that you have to let your kids learn some lessons and overcome some challenges for themselves while also being supportive and trying to step in when they are over their heads. During the summers everything is hectic but we have a pretty close family and a generally relaxed routine when we aren't traveling, so we support each other and understand each others' foibles. School forces everyone back out into the world and brings with it more schedules and commitments.

Postscript:
Well, both kids seem to have had a good first day at school. So I'm happy for that.