The Next Level

So you can't ignore the signs out there! It is all over: on the news, in shops, on big bill boards, over the radio and our mailbox is filled up with tons of folders with just school stuff! Starting tomorow at 6.15pm I will be waking up and starting officially my new year as a teacher. Think I am ready. Today, I even went shopping for school essentials and I will be back very soon to get the stuff I have tried to ignore like red correction pens and grade booklets!

Mentally I more then just ready. I am even a bit more energetic then other years. Wonder when I will have my first complete off-day amongst my pupils and colleagues! But there is something else bugging me. It is 6 years old, blond, blue-green eyes, and for the moment running around in our living room with in his hands an oven mitten, an orange arrow and the Buzz Lightyear Lazer gun stuffed in the back of his t-shirt! Yes, A!

Today we had a very nice time out. We went for some last school supply and grocery shopping. Then we went out for lunch and then spend the afternoon at the swimmingpool of Louvain. A had picked this out as the final destination of his (last?) 'carefree' summer holiday. He was all smiles when we were out in the pool and he was diving around and imitating turtles and sharks! While he was having the time of his life I seemed to be a bit out of tune! Why?

Because, yes it scares the hell out me this whole elementary school thing. I truely enjoyed the last four years that A just went to pre-school. The three teachers managed to get the best out of my son. Most days he just loved to go. 'Homework' was so easy because the moment he got into the car he announced that I had to search with him for a certain book about the subjects they were covering in class. Never skipped a day!

Uhm, as a mum I will have to let go and believe that he will be fine. A is not in the running for the next Nobel Price for Medicine/Lit/Peace! His number won't be up to be a new Mozart or Einstein. Leave alone that his IQ is hitting through the roof. He just does the ordinary stuff kids of his age do! Very long list but nothing ground breaking or something that will make the worldnews!

Being a teacher myself I am sometimes so afraid that he won't get it why learning is so important. And that he will need to try harder in case it won't go that easy. A is interested in many things but he does seem not to get it about the fact that you need to read and write in order to make it to next level.

P&I as concerned parents have made predictions about him @ school! The whole premature story then pops up again. The teeth are already forcing me to rethink my personal expectations about him out there in the real world. I just hope that he can hang in there!

Foremost, I just hope that he will have a very good time in gradeschool and that he can explore, discover and be amazed by the knowledge that is out there to digest. And most important he will be happy and find enough people on the way who believe in his ablilities!!!

Our best moment today we had while having french fries at the nice green zone the'Zoete Water'!
A:'Later, I might also be a dad and have a mum!'
S:'Sure, you can!!' (Can't wait to meet his first girlfriend he will bring home!)
A:'And then I also can have kids!'
S:'Yes, that is possible!' (Oh, that will make me then a grandmother!)
A:'And I will be a teacher!'
S:'You do? You want to become a teacher!? You then will need to write and read!' (I am so scared that you won't become what you want to become!)
A:'Then I can sit high up in the building and give instructions. And tell everybody what they can and can't do. When they are sick then I will give them a paper that says that they can go home and sit outside on the bench waiting for their parents to pick them up!'
S:'You would like that, wouldn't you?' (Oh God, if he thinks this is what my job is about, then we need to talk!!! And he is describing rather the job of a principal! Wow!)
A:'Yes,uhm the king, he is the boss of everything you see!' (He is looking at the nice surroundings of the 'Zoete Waters')
S:'Well, he and the ministers!' (Ministers, what is that again? Do we still have them in this country!?)
A:'Mum, can I have icecream? I want icecream!'

So, just before midnight all I have left is saying farewell to summer and wishing my son the very best out there. That he can dive into the fountain of knowledge many times and not feel like he is about to go under! I will be there at the edge holding out my hand! Just in case, you never know!!