First Day

I remember being young and having mixed feeling about the first day of school. I was excited to see my friends, but would worry because we didn't keep in touch much throughout the summer. What if they no longer liked me? What if they didn't come back to school? Also there was the whole getting up early thing, which truth be told, I never cared much for.

Today I'll be welcoming little ones to school. For some it'll be their first time away from mom or dad and home. Some will be seasoned pros already. Either way I'm sure there are some misgivings, some butterflies, some "what ifs". It's okay, we are ready to soothe and quiet those doubts and have some fun.

This week the theme is friendship. It amazed me to see how easily my kids make friends. Sometimes though it's a little heart breaking. Luke went up to a 12 year old boys and asked, "Hey, would you like to be my friend?" The boy laughed out loud and then with a smirk replied, "Sure!" He proceeded to run away from Luke. It took Luke a few minutes to realized he had been duped and he ran over to me demanding an explanation. Talk about being put on the spot. We came up with different ways to approach older kids. Instead of asking to be friends, maybe he could ask to join in the game with a very non-chalant, "May I join in?" He wasn't convinced and decided to sit and watch awhile and then asked if we could go home.

Making friends can be easy and comfortable or it can be a tricky road that needs a bit of maneuvering. This week we'll be learning appropriate ways to approach new friends. We'll discuss kindness, one of our rules. We participate in group activities that require cooperation and some negotiation. We'll also learn when to back off a bit and discuss that it's completely appropriate to want some time alone and that it doesn't mean the end of the friendship.

All this plus baking, crafts, art and some gardening. It's going to be a fantastic week.