Kindergarten Frustrations

Not that having P going to Kindergarten is fustrating or anything. I love it, she loves it, we just had a little bit of a rough start.

Last week she went in to her 30 minute test with her teacher to see where she's at. I was allowed in the room, but in the back to fill out papers and stuff. It was kindof an eye opener to see how she was with someone else where I couldn't help her or discipline her. I got so fustrated. The teacher only had 30 minutes to go over everything so she didn't have time to wait for Pto figure out stuff like I would have done so P kept saying, "I don't know," to so many things that I knew she knew. But the thing I was most fustrated about was her attention. P was in and out of her chair, always looking around the room, and at one point was lying on top of the table. I just got fustrated that I couldn't do or say anything. So then in the car on the way to pick up Z from Grandma's, I tried to go over some of the stuff that she said she didn't know and got even more frustrated because she wasn't really listening to me. I even pulled the car over to get her to pay attention. I got way too worked up because then P said, "Mom, can you not tell Grandma that I didn't pay attention to my teacher." I felt so bad I started crying. I totally should have realized I was making her feel bad. Then I told her that she did a good job (which she really did) and said to tell Grandma that.

I signed P up for a school on the other side of town because I had heard it was really good and I was skeptical about her going to the schools by us. My friend also lives right by it and I go over there often enough that it wouldn't be a big deal. So I'd been telling P that I would drop her off at the school every day and then pick her up at my friend's house because the cars at the school are awful to try to get through. (She's in afternoon so dropping off is much easier.) Anyway, I told her that I would walk her to my friend's house the first few days so she could figure it out on her own so she needed to wait for me at the school. Well, she must have got the wrong idea. I waited outside the doors that she normally goes through to get to her class and she never came out. I waited till there was practically no kids at school left. By this time I was starting to get worried and a little teary eyed. I went to the office and told the lady that my daughter had just started Kindergarten and I couldn't find her anywhere. So the VERY smart lady at the desk asked for her name and annouced on the intercom for P to come to the office. Helllooo!! She's 5 years old and has only been to the school a few times! I told her that she would have no clue where to go so then she called for the teacher. When the teacher didn't come I got antsy and went out to look for her again. By this time I was crying. I looked around the whole school and found her teacher who was waiting with another girl who's mom hadn't come yet. I asked if she knew what had happened to P and then she got worried and went to go check the classroom. I started walking back to the office when my friend's kids ran up to me to tell me that P had walked to their house. I was so relieved! The teacher had brought the class out a different door than I was used to and P just walked to my friend's where she thought she was supposed to go and I must have just not seen her go past me. Anyway, (sorry this is getting long), the next day I told her that I wanted to walk with her so she knew to cross at the crosswalk and stuff and she said okay. So I dressed her in a bright green flowery shirt and thought for sure I'd be able to pick her out of the crowd. When the kids started coming out EVERYONE was wearing bright green. I had forgotten that Friday was Go Green day and the school shirts were bright green. Uggh! But I did find her and of course she had already started walking down the sidewalk to my friends house when I caught up to her. From then on I just waited at my friend's house because, obviously, she knew where to go and it really is just across the street almost.

So there, I'm done. P loves school and I'm just a mom that gets way too worked up about things.