Golden Moments in Parenting #42

This morning was one of those times that remind me that lurking under my usually calm exterior is a crazy woman. I was not at my best, shall we say.

Big-D entered Junior Kindergarten at the beginning of the month. Since we are too far from his school to walk he is eligible to take the school bus. However, as a family we decided that I would be dropping him off and picking him up. One of my main fears was he is too young and too easily distracted. I had visions of him not remembering which stop was his.

I changed my mind about the bus this week when it dawned on me that he is missing out on a valuable opportunity for socialization with other kids. So I overcame my concerns (or so I thought) and signed him up for the bus starting today.

Mike delayed going to work so he could help navigate the first morning catching the bus. I had been working myself up into a bundle of nerves since last night and by the time we walked to the bus stop I was fit to be tied.

I knew from dropping Big-D off at school that a teacher (not necessarily his) greets the bus and directs the kindergarten children into the playground while the older kids go directly into the school. I was worried that since he hadn’t been on the bus prior to today whomever was there to greet the bus wouldn’t know where he was meant to be.

So I started to quiz him on his class and his teacher’s name.

Big-D looked at me blankly. For the last couple of weeks he wouldn’t stop talking about how much fun he was having in Miss S’s kindergarten class. Today – the sound of crickets.

Aargh.

He got on without incident but I had a horrible feeling that since the bus driver didn’t know him something would go terribly wrong. So I did what any mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown would do – I drove to his school to see him get off the bus.

And then later I drove back to the school to see him get on the bus. Oh the shame.

Then, as if I hadn’t been stalking him all morning, I picked him up at the bus stop. At first I didn’t see him on the bus and got VERY worried that something had happened. Perhaps I should have followed the bus when it left the school instead of rushing away before the teacher could see me lurking the parking lot. But there he was – like taking the bus was no big thing. Yeah, right, perhaps not for HIM.

Poor kid. Today’s behaviour does not bode well for when he gets his driver’s license.