It is the season of new beginnings. The new school year seems to bring a sense of moving forward and graduating even more than the end of the school year, or the new year on the calendar.
January 1, besides writing the year wrong on everything I date for a few months, doesn't have much significance. It's still winter. It's still cold. My kids are the same ages.
End of the year? Yes....when you finish a grade or even graduate, it's an ending and a mark of moving forward. However, sometimes the summer dilutes that a bit. You don't graduate and change your life the next day. You have that summer to transition.
And that transition is important, because that new school year makes a big difference.
Your preschooler is leaving for school for the first time. Wearing that backpack that is the same size as their whole little body, clinging to you at the door. Most of the time, even if they've been in daycare since they were bitty, that first "preschool" day feels different.
Your kindergartener is going off to "big school". Maybe they're on the bus for the first time. Maybe it's their first time with a full day away, or packing a lunch. They've moved from those baby years into the kid years. It feels different.
Every year in the elementary grades feels like a new change. There are new expectations, new supplies required, more responsibility.
The middle school comes and you're in a whole new world.
Freshman in high school. Huge changes.
Every progressive year is a step further and further away. Suddenly the big preschool backpack and kindergarten lunch box have become a graphing calculator, SAT fees and a laptop.
Then college. Bedding and supplies and books. And do you need to get your kid a car?
Even after college there's a transition period of new beginnings before your kid truly leaves the nest. It's always time to begin anew in September.
But to me, it's my favorite time of year.
