Print  email 

School days

Sweet Memories: Moms cry, kids learn to fly on the first day of kindergarten

THE OLYMPIAN | • Published August 18, 2009

• Comments (0)

To mark the beginning of the upcoming school year, we asked for your photos and stories from the first day of kindergarten. Readers shared memories of their own big day, and those of their kids.

I will be having my “first” day of kindergarten for the 40th time this September.

As I turn 60, it’s as exciting and frightening as my first time when I turned 5 in September 1954 and apprehensively walked into Mrs. LaLone’s classroom at Lakewood Elementary.

I was so scared to be away from home for the first time, but I loved it! The smell of the room, the wooden chairs, the big wooden puzzle pieces, the cartons of juice at snack time each day ... It was then that I decided, as many children do, that I wanted to teach kindergarten.

Every fall, as I prepare my room for the new little ones coming into my class, I still love those same school smells. I wait to meet each child and parent as they come through my doors.

I want desperately for each child to be successful, feel important and love kindergarten as much as I did and still do. – Lin Riggio, Tacoma kindergarten teacher

This is a picture of my son, Jaden, going to the bus stop on the first day of kindergarten with a backpack that was almost as big as he was! His little brother, Dylan, was so jealous that he didn’t get to go to school yet. – Melissa Glatt, Federal Way

My daughter Alisha woke up especially early that day in 1978. Very excited about her new clothes and shoes and of course, her first day of school. I looked at her with pride, excitement and sadness. My baby was starting school!

It seemed like it was only yesterday that I held her in my arms. Those first five years just seemed to go by so fast. I had wanted to take her to school and walk her to her classroom.

But no, she said she wanted to ride the yellow school bus with the other kids... She didn’t even want me to walk her to the bus stop. I went out to the porch and watched as she walked to the bus stop with her friends. I watched her get in the bus and as the bus left I just burst into tears. My little girl was growing up. – Alice Ramirez

Payton is the last of my three girls to enter school. My oldest is 18, a senior, and the middle girl is 12, entering junior high.

Of course, my memories are those of sadness and tears – for me, anyway. For her, she was strong and stoic, excited and ready for me to leave her for the half day.

This picture says it all: hands crossed, ready to get through the year. – Karen Worley, Tacoma

I have only one memory of the first day of kindergarten. Walking through the door and away from my mom, and being asked to sit on the floor in a circle, next to a little girl with brown hair and a shy smile. Now, 38 years later, that same brown-haired girl with the shy smile is still my best friend. Her name is Jeri Woods.

She is the sweet one, I am the funny one.

For the first three years of elementary school we were in the same class and always stood next to each other for the class picture. We are the first two girls on the left, in the front row. I am the girl with the green plaid dress and she with the red sweater.

Later we shared everything from clothes and homework, to secrets about crushes, first kisses, and broken hearts... We both married our high school sweethearts. She married the sweet one and I married the funny one... We didn’t always live in the same town or the same state, but she was and always has been a constant in my life. – Paula Simon

My son BJ had already been in school for two years prior to starting kindergarten in 2008. But for some reason as I placed him in the school bus ramp and watched it elevate him up, my eyes welled up.

Kindergarten is a rite of passage, the age where you start your independence, and by this point, my little one had mastered independence. As my eyes were tearing and I was trying to give him a kiss, he put his hand on my cheek almost saying “MOM! People are watching.” The last two years flashed before my eyes. This little helpless being had grown into a mini-me version of my husband. This was his first year of all-day school. “Would he handle it? Will he cry for hours on end?” I thought to myself.

As I waited, I just knew I would get a call asking me to come pick him up ... But the phone never rang. I began to cry: “My baby doesn’t miss me. He doesn’t need me anymore.” Thankfully, I was alone.

Three o’clock rolled around and the bus was dropping him off. He saw my face and yelped with glee. He clapped his hands and once they rolled him off the bus ramp he came to me with open arms extending as far as they could, waiting for a hug from mom. We both passed our rite of passage. – Tania Morris, Fort Lewis

I don’t remember how I felt going to school for the first time myself, but when my daughter Genny started school in 2005, I was a bag of mixed emotions. I was so proud of her to be starting school, and so glad to have the last of my two children out of the house.

But I was also so nervous for her. Would she be happy or sad? Would she behave? Would she make friends?

She was as independent as she has always been – no fears about what was to be, no tears for leaving Mom behind.

The fears and tears were all from me, and so was the pride and joy. – Danielle Nease, Tacoma

Tips for parents

After more than two decades in the kindergarten classroom, teacher Kelly King of Point Defiance Elementary School in Tacoma knows what it takes to get kids off to a good start in school. Here’s her advice for parents:

 • Get kids excited about learning. Talk to them about school and how much fun it’s going to be. Even if you had a hard time in school, be enthusiastic with your child.

 • Develop your child’s language skills. Talk about what you see when you’re driving. Speak in complete sentences.

 • Teach your child to learn to listen by reading stories, attending library story time or making up stories with your child.

 • Help your child develop independence. A kindergarten student can open his own juice box, hang up her coat or put away toys. She might not be able to tie her own shoes yet. Don’t worry – buy shoes with Velcro ties.

 • Foster the child’s ability to play with others. Get involved with a play group.

 • Help encourage fine motor skills development by stringing Cheerios on a pipe cleaner, playing with clothespins or with Lego toys. Those skills will help your child hold a pencil when he goes to kindergarten.

 • While a kindergarten child might not know the alphabet, it’s important to foster letter recognition and number sense. When you drive past a store, point to the first letter and say its name out loud. Help count things.

 • On the first day of school, keep good-byes cheerful and quick. Don’t come back and peek in the window.

“I’ve never had a child cry for more than five minutes after Mommy and Daddy drove off,” says King.

Debbie Cafazzo, The News Tribune