Kindergarten Lessons for Grown-Ups

This week we attended my son’s kindergarten celebration at Bierbaum Elementary, which involved a few adorable songs where the kids danced joyfully between verses (not mine) and a complete shortage of ridiculous awards. The principal, Kristy Roberts, led the kids through the first-grade cheer to get them ready for next year and in a flash we were out the door to the cafeteria for cookies and Hawaiian Punch.

As we sat there at the celebration, I was thinking about the poem, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, by Robert Fulghum. In it, Fulghum says that the simple lessons learned in kindergarten, like sharing and saying we’re sorry, are all the skills we really need in life. I think I learned a few things being a kindergarten mom that probably translate to the bigger picture of life, too.

First of all, letting people see that you’re human is a great icebreaker. I want to be Supermom so badly, but even as a preschool mom I could see that I was more cut out to be “the mom who always forgets it’s her turn for snack,” or “the mom whose kids’ hair never looks brushed.”

It turns out that other non-Supermoms love to meet another woman who just can’t cut it. Early in the school year, I was on my way to pick up my son from kindergarten when I got pulled over for my just-expired plates. In the school parking lot. I was mortified when I noticed the other moms pulling into school and knew the jig was up. But when another mom pulled her car up close to mine, laughed knowingly as she rolled the window down and said she’d fill in the teacher for me, I felt a sudden kinship.

Not only was it a conversation starter when the other moms and my son’s teacher saw me and teased me about it, but it also helped me realize how ridiculous it was for me to pretend like I know what I’m doing. I’ve got three kids and have been a mom for a while, but in the school world, I’m a total novice. 

The second thing I learned was that you should always read directions carefully. For example, early dismissal and early release are different. I’m convinced the administrators chuckled to themselves when they put this one on the school calendar.

In half-day morning kindergarten, the difference between early dismissal and early release are only 10 minutes, but tell that to my 5-year-old who looked up at me with the face of a forgotten puppy when I arrived to get him from the office. I was so clueless that another mom and I were sitting around in the lobby laughing about how late the teacher was running that day.

The third thing I learned this year was that you should always say yes unless there is a very good reason to say no. I had opportunities this year to carpool with moms I didn’t know for a field trip, got a chance to visit with the family of my son’s classmate when I agreed to watch their infant son while they went to a movie, and volunteered for time slots at several school events like the book fair and the school picnic.

Each one of these instances was, in different ways, a stretch for me. I tend to be introverted, but I knew I wanted to make new friends with parents at Bierbaum. So my husband and I tried to go to the events at the school and volunteer when help was requested. As a result, we have felt the strong community that is Bierbaum Elementary and it becomes more and more fun to go participate as we get to know people.