He's Ready...But am I?

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life that he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.
~ Mark Twain

Since being on the road I’ve always known in the back of my mind that school and socialization for my child was going to be a bit unconventional. If we are still living in the BigTruckNewHouse then homeschooling/roadschooling is the route we’ll take (no pun intended). And by the way, there are about as many opinions on this issue as there are opinions on whether or not I fed him from my boob, give him processed sugar or bribe him to behave (kindof, I do now, and of course).

All of that aside, I have wrapped my brain around the idea that Brian and I would one day be responsible for his formal education, at least to a point. For now we are focusing on his social skills by taking him to McDonald’s Playland and roadside parks. But inevitably both his education and socialization are developing just a little differently than his peers. For instance, he has a bad habit of getting in another child’s face and hollering. I fear that he’s not really going to gain a lot of friends with this little habit.

Our lifestyle has taken a bit of a turn and we’re able to stay in the same place for a couple of months at a time. In fact, we’ll be living in South Dakota more often than not. Since we are in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of snow, in the middle of winter I’ve made a quest to find other mothers in my predicament. Well, not actually my exact predicament…any mother with a kid would work.

My search started at the library. No storytime but the librarian told me I could come in and hang out. So that left me feeling a little like a predator waiting to pounce on my prey as the next mother walked in. But the one morning I got my courage up to go there and hunt the library didn’t open until midday and we went away hungry.

Our luck got better at the next stop. In the post office parking lot I found an unsuspecting mother with what looked like a little girl of three. I cornered her ever so politely and asked her if there were any others like her in town. She directed me to a Mommy & Me meeting just around the corner. In fact, their group started in about 15 minutes and I was just on time. This was Caleb’s opportunity to actually socialize with other children outside of Chuck E. Cheese. I was more than nervous. Both for myself entering the new environment (fearing that whole boob/processed sugar/bribing stuff) but mostly for the fear that my son would attack the first child to look at him the wrong way.

My fears were somewhat justifiable. The other mothers were warm and welcoming and no one even mentioned sugar or boobs; however, my son did whack a kid, push a kid and scream more than once. I was slightly mortified but I knew as soon as I left that I had to come back and teach my son how to play well with others at the expense of these darling little children.

In the meantime I found out the local YMCA offered an abbreviated preschool program. After comtemplating for a few days I got the nerve up and enrolled him. When he found out he got to go to school he could hardly sleep. Every day for three days straight that’s all he talked about. The night before I layed out his clothes and tucked him in with the promise of a new adventure in the morning. We were all up early, looking sharp and ready to go. I didn’t get nervous until I was on my way there. Was I supposed to bring him a snack? Did he have on the right kind of shoes? I park, take a breath, look around to see if there are other kids to verify I’m in the right place. This is almost worse than my first day of middle school. Before I could get a grip on the situation, Caleb had unbuckled himself and was half way out the door.

He reluctantly agreed to hold my hand on the walk in. We found the right room, he threw off his coat and ran to play. I was left standing with his shot records and a knot in my throat. The teacher welcomed me (because obviously Caleb needed no welcoming) and directed me to sign him in and hang his coat. Then off I went. I walked down the hall, got into my car, started it, took a deep breath…..then got a little excited about the fact that I had THREE HOURS. I went to the gym, I took a long shower, I actually fixed my hair. It was awesome!

With time, I am learning the preschool ropes and so is Caleb. I now know that you should include candy with your Valentine cards. Caleb knows not to eat all of that candy (or at least not to get caught). I know that he might take his shoes off so make sure his socks are clean. And Caleb knows not to throw his shoes at the other kids. I know to relax and allow him to be the fun, spirited little boy that God made him to be. And he knows how fun it is to be the spirited little boy that God made him to be.

I’m not ready for preschool germs or influences not filtered by me. But I’m ready to see his little face beam as he runs to me and tells me about his day at school (or even if he screams “No Mommy, don’t be here”).