End of an era

Aaron’s tenure at the Stroum Jewish Community Center Early Childhood School is over. He started there when we moved to Seattle, when he was one year old, meaning he has been going there on weekdays for something like 80% of his life. It’s been a good school for our family; the curriculum is good, the teachers are some good and some great, and the other families are a wonderful bunch of people. When you join a preschool, you are joining a pool of friends for both your children and yourself, and both we and the kids have made some very good friends at the J. A few of these families will be at our neighborhood elementary school or at temple, so we will have a continuing connection to them. For others, we’ve made a schedule of monthly dinners so we can keep in touch.

 I love having big kids. But Jordan doesn’t really fit in my lap anymore, and Aaron still does but barely, and I’m realizing how fast it all goes by. The end of preschool is the end of early childhood. When I cleaned out Aaron’s cubby, there was his naptime blanket, and I thought: The days of naptime blankets are over. The days of playtime in class are over (though at least there is still recess). The days of teachers who know you as a whole person are over – how you nap, what you eat, what your family is like; public school doesn’t support that. The sense of school as a place where you follow your own interests and set your own pace are probably over too (until maybe college?). At his next school, there will be 25 kids in his class, there will be a ton of behavior management, and the district will set the curriculum. It’s the end of an era.

Aaron in the middle is with Halsey and Clementine, in our sukkah. At the bottom is Emanuel, his current best buddy, with Spencer C. On the right side jumping off a board is his other best buddy Finn.