I was wondering about Kleenex last week.
Yes, that’s a brand name, and I could say facial tissues, or Puffs — but I buy Kleenex. I digress.
Do sales of Kleenex go up the week school starts?
I don’t mean the required boxes on school supply lists. I know that come tomorrow, the tears will be flowing all over the state. Primarily from mothers of kindergartners. Maybe from a few dads, too.
I also know that there will be cheers going up across the land from exhausted parents who have spent their summers hauling kids to ballgames of all kinds, swimming lessons, practices, contests and just trying to keep little ones entertained without having them watch too many cartoons.
I can remember like it was yesterday when my older son, now 26, went to kindergarten. I didn’t want to cry his first day of school, so I hugged him goodnight — tightly — the night before, got in the shower and sobbed like I was sending my baby off to war in a pair of Power Rangers shoes. I am teary-eyed right now, thinking about it. What is it about sending our babies to school that does this to us? (OK, some of us. I had that one friend who said she was going to do cartwheels the first day of kindergarten.)
I guess it was a little easier with my younger son, but I had stayed home with him from the time he was born. He was one of the younger ones in his class, and I was afraid of how he’d adjust. Sure enough, I got a phone call the first day of kindergarten that he wasn’t obeying the rules, or he’d climbed up on something and wouldn’t get down. I knew it was going to be a loooong year.
I still remember that he wore his Thomas the Tank Engine shirt the first day, but he refused to wear the name tag his teacher gave him. He wasn’t being defiant; he just really didn’t want to have a sticker on his shirt.
It got worse. When his kindergarten teacher asked her students to draw pictures of themselves, he drew red circles. She told us, with a look of grave concern, that when she asked him about it, he said: “It’s a roller coaster — I’m on it.” I will admit that my husband and I laughed.
Oh, trust me, we were in the teachers’ corners. My mother taught for 35 years; teachers rule.
When my brother, who is now 45, went to kindergarten, it was all about coloring and nap time. I didn’t even go to kindergarten, but it wasn’t required, and my mother couldn’t afford private kindergarten. To this day, I cannot use a pair of scissors well. I also do not know how to use my inside voice.
My brother and sister-in-law’s 5-year-old son, my sweetie-pie nephew, is headed to kindergarten this week. I can’t believe he’s already starting school. My brother claims he isn’t feeling angst about his firstborn going to school, but they also have a 1-year-old at home. We’ll see.
I think it’s hard to send our children off to school because we know they’ll begin to lose their innocence. We can’t protect them from harsh words or hard rocks on the playground. It’s also a tangible sign that they’re growing up. There’s no going back.
But sometimes we have more separation anxiety than they do. All we can do is love them, listen to them and help them navigate this new world.
And get a case of Kleenex ready.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.