Kindergarten

Last week school started here on Mackinac Island. My daughter is thrilled to be in Kindergarten this year, and she came home after her second day going on and on about how much she loves kindergarten. When I asked her why kindergarten was so wonderful, she gave me one of those how-can-you-not-know-this looks and said, "The snacks in kindergarten are so much better than in preschool. Mama, Mrs. W's fruit snacks are awesome!"

Thank goodness she got off to such a good start, because her teacher had to keep her after school for about 40 minutes the very next day. Little Miss K didn't want to write her name on her paper, so she snuck over to her brother's desk (on Mackinac, the kindergarten and first graders are in a classroom together) and asked him to write it, which he did. Mrs. W erased the name, after explaining the importance of completing one's own work, and asked K to write it for her self.

Well, K dug in her heels and flat out refused. Plus, she yelled at Mrs. W, insisting, "You're my teacher! You're supposed to help me. It looked nice and now my paper looks yucky." It took her about 30 minutes of sitting in the classroom, by herself, before she was finally willing to write. Then it took another 10 minutes before she would put up the chair so the custodian could sweep.

Sigh

I keep reminding myself how pleased I'll be with that strong will when she's dating, but there are days right now when it's quite challenging...