Mark Twain had once remarked : \u201cNever let your schooling interfere with your education\u201d.\u00a0 As much as I believed in it and had entertained the thought of schooling my child all on my own, it was only practical that we considered some formal schooling process to ensure that our child learns the basics in an environment that would go on to become the society she will inhabit in the future.<\/p>\n
The date was 15th June 2006.\u00a0 It was the day my little angel – Pumpkin – would first experience going to school.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d debated and discussed the subject, as parents, for many months preceeding that day : What\u2019s the right age for a child to be put into school?\u00a0 What kind of a playschool should it be?\u00a0 A really fancy (read: expensive) one or a nice homely type?\u00a0 How will she adjust?\u00a0 She already knows so much and talks so well – Will she go there and regress?!\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t fight like other kids – Will she able to manage on her own?\u00a0 Questions, questions and more questions\u2026<\/p>\n
My wife did all the digging-up of the various options, what they offer, how much they charge, etc.\u00a0 And, we finally settled on a homely type – Little Stars<\/i> – not too far from where we live.\u00a0 The slated start was mid-June, and we assumed it would be a Monday.\u00a0 BossLady (my wife) even scheduled her Training program to start later that week, but life had other plans for us.<\/p>\n
The school called : \u201cPlease bring Pumpkin to school on 15th June at 11.15 a.m.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was to be a Wednesday, and BossLady was scheduled to be in a Training program!\u00a0 It fell upon me to do the needful.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think it would be a big deal, but as the day grew closer, I started getting butterflies in my stomach\u2026 Is she ready for this?\u00a0 Are we <\/i>ready for this?\u00a0 What if it rains heavily that day?\u00a0 Do we have a raincoat?\u00a0 We don\u2019t <\/i>have a waterproof bag!\u00a0 Questions, questions and more questions\u2026<\/p>\n
Aunty Natasha sent her a raincoat just a few days before the school commenced.\u00a0 I bought her a (waterproof) new school bag, in time for the big event.\u00a0 BossLady got it all ready, with the essentials packed in.\u00a0 I told my boss I would be in late – \u201cpersonal work\u201d.\u00a0 And, on the morning of 15th, I drove her to school.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A couple of days earlier, she had developed a bit of a flu.\u00a0 The otherwise cheerful child was not quite her self, on the first day of her schooling.\u00a0 But, we would try to make the most of it.\u00a0 On the way, I coached her as best as possible : Have fun.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get scared if other children cry.\u00a0 Don\u2019t talk too much if you\u2019re coughing a lot.\u00a0 Grandma will come and pick you up.\u00a0 Ok?<\/p>\n
So off we went to Little Stars.\u00a0 She liked the inviting billboard that announced the location of the playschool.\u00a0 \u201cThe star is laughing!\u201d, she said!\u00a0 This was good.\u00a0 She was taking it pretty well.\u00a0 (I always knew she would!)\u00a0 There was utter chaos outside the playschool.\u00a0 A lot of anxious parents trying to do what it takes\u2026 some filling in forms, some consoling crying children, while others were giving\/taking instructions of some sort.\u00a0 They were all moms, except for me!\u00a0 I said to myself, \u201cI\u2019ll do the form-filling later\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked at Pumpkin and asked her if she\u2019s all set to go to her new school.\u00a0 She said, yes, and was craning to get a glimpse of the activity behind the entrance door.\u00a0 So I gave her a big kiss and a hug, and sent her off inside.<\/p>\n
Life would never be the same again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mark Twain had once remarked : “Never let your schooling interfere with your education”. As much as I believed in it and had entertained the thought of schooling my child all on my own, it was only practical that we considered some formal schooling process to ensure that our child learns the basics in an environment that would go on to become the society she will inhabit in the future. The date was 15th June 2006. It was the day my little angel – Pumpkin – would first experience going to school….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-wonder-years"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}