9.21.2011

Kareem Going to School

 Sunday 18-9-2011was Kareem's  first day of school. He's still too young for KG1 (3 years two months old), but we thought that he can manage, at least academically, but socially we were not sure, still decided to give it a shot anyway. 

We've been preparing him for this day for a long time, telling him about school and all. We prepared him to the fact that parents don't stay with the children at school and all that.. Still we've been dreading this day for months now. We were sure that he'll cry his eyes out when we leave him at school because he's very attached to us, and is not used to be left with strangers for a long time now, especially that I've been jobless for more than a year, and he stopped going to the daycare since then.

Surprisingly, he was very  confident and excited on the first day of school. He did not cry at all. On the contrary, he was very happy and wanted to go there over and over again. On the second day he was also excited to go again to school. BUT on the third day he started nagging that he doesn't want to go there anymore! When I dropped him at school, he cried. Today (4th day) he also said that he doesn't want to go to school, but thankfully he didn't cry. It was me who cried this time. I've been holding my tears and struggling to stay calm and strong since the first day, but I couldn't take it anymore. I'm very attached to him, like he to me, and I'm not used to stay at home without him, it feels sooooo empty without him running around the house all day. Even when I worked for around a year and a half, Kareem used to stay with me in the nursery of the school I used to work at. We used to go together and come back home together, we were under the same roof and I could check on him at any time. So this time it is different, and more difficult, and being pregnant makes me even more emotional about the whole matter.

But what can we do. This is life and sooner or later he has to be given the chance to learn how to deal with things on his own. His teachers like him, and he seems to like them too. He's a good boy and actually makes me proud.

I keep checking the time and asking myself what is he doing now? Call me silly but I really wished they have a camera in his class to allow me watch what he's doing all day. Kareem, my precious, May God bless you and protect you always.