Letter: First Day of School – The Dream Continues

As our grandson prepared for his first day of Kindergarten some years ago now, in contemplation of the Big Event he said to his daddy “Wait! Does this mean I won’t be able to play all day anymore?”

And now it’s our youngest’s turn.

She will exchange her sword for a crayon, her fairytale princess dress for something of more standard school attire, and she’ll get an additional mommy of sorts who will likewise love, and inspire, and thus help this little one prepare to slay the many fire-breathing, dragon-like, fears she’ll face, as we all do, in life.

Everything she’ll need to know she’ll learn in Kindergarten, along with of course how her wonderful mother has so well prepared her for this day.

‘La vie du chateau’ (the good life) of the castle doors of education will open.

As she advances through her studies, it will be as if visiting the Great Hall, the ballroom, the kitchen, and even into the boudoir at the top of the winding staircase.

School will become as it were, as it was in her bedtime stories, a magical, wonderful world of medieval knights-errant in shining armor who will perform exploits in the name of this young lady-in-waiting.

She will continue to dream. And her dreams will be given wings in school.

In his book “Adventures In Education: One Teacher’s True Story” author Stephen T. Doyle writes, “When we take the time to get to know students, we discover that they dream too. They suffer too. They have self-doubt too.”

And it will be her enthusiastic, passionate teachers who will so mightily assist the parent to inspire this dreamer as they together open the window to the world and, in that discovery, help this young lady-in-waiting to take her place in that world.

Pictured is the author’s granddaughter in front of Thornewood Castle. The image was created by the author’s daughter Christina Klas using Photoshop Generative Artificial Intelligence. David Anderson is School Board Director District Four, which includes Tillicum, for Clover Park School District. His reflections upon returning to school are his own but hopefully capture what we are all about!