Iani, my eldest daughter who just turned four, went to school for the first time 20 paces from where we live. For the longest time, we have been priming her about school. We “simulated” what she would be doing in school. Well actually it was more play than anything else. We wrote, sang, danced, (ok, it was just her) “read” and went through the other activities that she might do in school.

Everything was going fine, until she got bored. And went on to play with her little sister, Tesa who is turning three in July.

Thoughts of her getting bored raced in my mind but decided that these are all unfounded fears.

And the first day came.

I took a day off from the office since my wife couldn’t get out of her commitments at work (she is the assistant principal of the grade school department in Don Bosco Technical College and had their first day coinciding with Iani’s) to see how she will do in school.

Pretty well she did .

Her interest did not wane a bit during my watch. She listened to Teacher Norva and followed her instuctions (while some of her classmates didn’t). She played, sang, danced and generally had a good time.

Sigh of relief….

“So did you enjoy your first day in school?”, I asked her. “Yes”, she said. “Would you like to go school again tomorrow?” Another yes. And another sigh of relief. One of my fears is that she wouldn’t like going to school. Cross that one out.

A few days went by. More singing, dancing, playing, eating.

“Daddy, I got a clown on my hand from Teacher Norva. Very good daw ako sabi niya,” Iani beamed. I beamed back “That’s good! Why did did she give you a clown?” “Because I shared
toys.”

Muttered prayer: Thank you Lord…