Schooling begins, for Niky and for me...
Had written about Nithila's first day at school, in fact that incident inspired
me to write and to blog in first place… So was exceedingly looking forward to
today - Niky’s first day at school… Had thought that the gush of emotions might
not be as strong as earlier, but I was so wrong… this experience was to my
surprise, yet again, absolutely overwhelming...
So with one experience in the tow, Niky’s school hunting, admission,
preparation, shopping etc was a cake walk… didn’t have to go anywhere inquiring
about schools, nor did I scan through the parental sites and blogs for reviews,
like I did during Nithila's time… saw one known nursery chain opening its new
center next to our condo and got admission done in a jiffy… shopping for bag,
clothes, tiffin etc was a matter of few minutes… so well no major effort was
taken or no major thought was put in till yesterday on Niky’s schooling.. for
Playgroups are just a means of getting the kids to socialize and engage in group
activities (giving some moments of sanity to home with these brats away for
couple of hours)… any decent playgroup achieves that is my opinion…
Today morning, however, was not like any other morning… It was Niky’s first
day at the Play Group… I woke up with this thought, and remained perturbed for
a while… she however realized the difference in today only after she was dressed up and readied in new clothes… when I picked up her school bag and said
‘Niky, school chalein?’… I am not sure what she understood, but she was so very
elated that she raised her arms to take the bag on her shoulders (copying
Nithila ofcourse) and we walked out of home hand in hand…
She had no clue where she was going, but she was happy going somewhere… As I
pulled the car outside the center, I saw her looking out of the window very
inquisitively at the colorful building and a few kids outside it… we got off the
car, and as we approached the building she looked up at me, thoroughly confused…
as we climbed the flight of stairs, her grip of my hand became tighter, her
steps became slower… apprehension all over her face… once we reached upstairs, her
shoes were taken off, her bag was taken away… she gave me one look which said ‘yeh
kya ho raha hai mere saath?’… had I not picked her up, she would have gone
behind them to get her bag back…
I was supposed to be around with her for an hour, show her the area and make
her feel comfortable… but that was not required, I parked myself in a corner
while she found herself exploring the whole place on her own… I was quite
amazed to see how coolly and confidently she went around, smiling at
everyone, surveying every room, their racks and toys/games kept on those racks…
careful with every step she took, looking back at me for acknowledgement… she tried
conversing (blabbering!) with many kids and parents on her own, and those
parents in turn looked at me as if asking for help (rather rescue !!)… at the same
time they were being entertained by her unassuming antics, specially when she with
her tiny hands, tried lifting the huge slide so that no one else plays with it…
it took three people (including me) to pull her away from the slide…
After every 10 odd minutes, she would look around for me, spot me in the
crowd and come running to me (this feeling is unexplainably humbling !!)… and would wait
for my consent before next exploration… that
consent from me, I think, was important for her to take her next step… this phenomenon of
‘taking consent’ is only temporary I know :-)), but very critical as
a springboard, to move ahead with confidence always…
So she enjoyed her first day at school, thoroughly… and I enjoyed seeing her
enjoy… what I thought was just another tick-mark activity, turned out to be such
an overwhelming milestone, for both Niky and me… It was gratifying to see how
the apprehension while climbing upto the school, turned into a dazzling smile on entering
the school... such an infectious smile, that it spread to other kids and her teachers too... it remained so till we left after an hour or so... like I was there to
guide and encourage her today, I promise myself, and to her, that I will always be there to steer her... however
close or far she is... just to ensure that, that smile doesn’t fade away, ever...
2 comments
"So she enjoyed her first day at school, thoroughly… and I enjoyed seeing her enjoy"
ReplyDeleteBrilliant ...I repeat you are 1 super cool mom your gals will be really proud of you when they grow up and read these blog posts! :)
Thank you Ram for all the kind words.. and also for being a regular here on my blog :-))
ReplyDelete