The other day, I was wondering what kind of life my son will have as he is growing up.
He is about to start kindergarten. I am filled with anxiety mixed with excitement. In part because I am acutely aware of the burst of emotions that he is in for as he starts this new journey.
I don’t remember much of my own early childhood and school-life. I was rather shy and timid at school and boisterous and headstrong at home. I also remember not being able to handle big emotions too well and not being good at conflict resolution.
Being the younger of two siblings, I got a lot of leeway and protection from my parents. Because they handled everything for me I never felt the need to work through my complicated emotions or work out issues cordially.
Looking back, I feel that even though that was convenient for me, it didn’t really give me the necessary tools to verbalize and understand my emotions too well.
As a parent of a three and a half year old, I am extremely conscious of this. Not only do I share my own feelings with him, I encourage him to talk about his feelings with me.
One day, as we were getting into the car after preschool my son, said, “Ma, I don’t want to go to school again.”