Sunday, August 28, 2005

School supplies

Ariel will begin kindergarten in a little over a week.

Many parents would take this opportunity to moan and groan over their little girl, I don't want to give her up, boo hoo, cry all the way to the front door of the school, yada, yada, yada.

Tegan and I are not like that. That is due in part to the fact that Ariel (and Ruth) have been in daycare under the careful eye of other people eight hours of every work day since they were 3 months old. We are very comfortable with their situation and have no qualms about what Ariel is about to undergo.

Besides, it is only part of the day and then she returns to the Kindercare that she is very familiar with.

So, spare us the waterworks. She'll be fine and is looking forward to it.



What do kindergarten kids need these days? Well, I can at least give you the supplies list that our elementary school provided to us. This weekend marked the first of many future school supply purchases. As the children age, we'll do it again and again.

Here's the list (and I hope you appreciate it, since I snuck into my sleeping child's bedroom to retrieve the bookbag from her closet--I couldn't find the paper list, and apparently I'll do anything for a blog post.

5 folders for holding papers and such
6 glue sticks (but no huffing please!)
8 No. 2 pencils (Tegan went with the nice metallically hued multicolored ones.)
1 set of washable watercolor paints (8 colors to a set)
1 box of washable markers (8 colors in a box)
3 boxes of crayons (non-toxic please, and yes . . . 8 colors to a box)
1 pair of safety edge, blunt tip Fiskars brand scissors (yes, they specified a brand name here)
1 pencil eraser
1 large backpack

How any of this will help Ariel get into Harvard or become an international artist I don't know. But I guess that is why they are the teachers and I just _________ for a living.

[RANDOM NOTE--I WAS TRYING TO FIX SOMETHING ON MY NAPA VALLEY . . . MEH! POST AND INADVERTANTLY MADE IT DISAPPEAR FOR A FEW DAYS. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT LAST SAN FRANCISCO POST, PLEASE GO DOWN TWO AND DO SO NOW.]

2 comments:

lulu said...

I hear ya, Burb. I've come to believe that staying home with your kids all day and then sending them off to K-garten is a BAD thing to do. Sure, I'd like to stay home with him more, but even if I was a stay-at-home I think I'd send him to a quality daycare center. It's not just "socialization", either, unless part of the socialization process is gaining independence. Among my circle, I see better things out of the kids who go to preschool. Certain people in our society like to make a fuss about the tragedy of parents (read: women) who work and how it's harmful for kids to go to daycare, blah blah. Still, they never seem to have a problem with shipping them off to someone else's care once they reach the completely self-sufficient age of . . . 5. So arbitrary, man!

Stevie has one more week before he starts private K at his current daycare. The only brue-ha-ha we'll make is to emphasize the transition into Real School, with attendance procedures, a dress code, etc. He's excited, too.

Good luck, little ones!

Sven Golly said...

I helped Helga move back into her dorm Saturday for her fourth year at old KSU, and just for the record, I don't want to give her up, boo hoo, cry all the way to the front door of the school, yada, yada, yada.