My Nervous First Grader

We were about to go in but then Natalie tugged on my arm. I could see the worry in her eyes so I bent down and asked what was wrong. She leaned over to me and cupped her hands around my ear.

“I’m nervous,” she whispered.

Oh.

We were about to go into the school and meet her first grade teacher. Natalie has always loved school but she also knows that first grade will be different. (And she was slightly nervous about heading to Kindergarten too. I told her when in doubt, be Bullwinkle like Joey taught Michelle on Full House. And yes, Michelle was teased for it but I still think it's a people pleaser...)

“It’ll be fine,” I promised. “First grade will be fun.” I tried to think back to my days as a first grader. All I could recall was pooping my pants in class. Not the best story.

Natalie took a deep breath. “Okay.”

I stood up and we walked to the area where it would tell us what teacher she would have. We found her name and by then Natalie was happy again because she had spotted some of her friends from Kindergarten.

We walked to her new classroom and met the teacher, who seemed friendly. Natalie decided to play shy and hid behind my leg. When the teacher walked away to greet another student, Natalie whispered, “Where are all the toys?”

There was only a small area where toys seemed to be.

“It’s first grade,” I reminded her. “You won’t get as many toys now.”

Natalie scowled. “No stations? No play house?”

I shook my head. “I’m afraid not.”

Natalie plopped down in a chair. “I’m sad.” She touched the desk in front of her. “What’s this for? No tables?”

“No. You have a desk now. Won’t that be fun?”

The look Natalie gave me showed that no, she did not think it would be fun.

Anyway, today is her first day of school. I’m thinking that even though it’ll be different, that she’ll still have fun.

After all, she still gets recess…