Kindergarten starts this week. Karenna is nervous. You'd expect that for a big change like that.
It's not because of new kids. Many of the kids at her day care will go to the same school. Plus she's used to meeting new friends at dance and basketball camp.
It's not because of the big kids. Her day care moved her to the building with school-aged kids over the summer and she loved being around the older group.
It's not the teacher or building. She had a Kindergarten camp over the summer. Our school district offers this camp for two weeks in the summer over half-days to help Kindergartners make the transition. She loved it. Her teacher for camp happened to be her classroom teacher for the year, and she adores her. The teacher sent a very nice post card to the kids last week and Karenna loved it!
It's not the classwork. Karenna makes school work for herself in her free time. At preschool, she spent hours at the art table, even as other kids got bored with it. At a birthday party, while other kids moved onto games she continated a cakes decorating activity making precise symetrical adornments to her cake. (I was afraid she would want me to save the cake forever when she finished.) At home she is constantly doing pen and paper activities asking me to spell out words. (She even had me help her write a thank-you letter for her teacher. I spelled the words and she wrote them out.)
No. Her fear is the lunch line. (This is from a kid who has had lunches at preschool since she could eat solid foods with teeth.) Here is a sampling of her lunch line anxieties:
- What if I do it wrong?
- What if I don't know how to read what the choices are?
- What if I need another straw because mine broke?
- Will the lunch ladies be mean or nice?
- What if I don't know how to use a spork?
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