Kindergarten School Daze
Written by SurfWriter Girl Sunny Magdaug
Now that school is almost out for summer vacation and kids can’t wait to run out the classroom door, I think back on my own school days and how eager I was to start my first day of school.
As a young child living in Seattle, WA, each school day morning and afternoon I would look out the window of my house to see the children walking by, laughing, and talking. My mother told me that they were going to and from school. My sister and brother were too young to play with and I wished that I could go to school, too.
I remember asking my mother, “How old do I have to be to start school?” I knew about school because I used to watch Henry cartoons. He always carried his books on the way to school. I don’t know if my mother was tired of me always asking how old I had to be, but she finally told me that I had to be five years old to start school.
When I turned five years old, I was excited because I thought, “Now I am old enough to start going to school.”
So, one day when my sister Rose and I were supposedly napping and for some odd reason my parents weren’t home, I took the opportunity to run out of my house and go to the Catholic school nearby.
Going inside the building, I opened a classroom door and saw the children sitting at their desks. Feeling happy, I went inside and stood near the front of the class. The teacher greeted me and asked what my name was. “Sonja,” I said.
Some of the children started laughing then. Everyone was looking at me now. Suddenly feeling anxious, I remembered that Henry always had something with him when he went to school…
and blurted out, “I forgot my pencil and paper.” Then ran out the door to go back home.
After I got home, my parents returned and never knew that I had gone to school by myself. At the time, I had no idea that parents were in charge of admitting their children to school. I just thought children could automatically go to school on their own. I never told my parents that I snuck out of the house to go to school that day.
Finally, the day came when my mother signed me up to start kindergarten. I was so happy! But I became a kindergarten dropout the first day! I ate something in the school cafeteria and got sick and my protective mother didn’t let me go back to school until the following year to start the first grade.
Even now, after years of school and college, I still remember my adventure going to school by myself. The sense of wonder and curiosity to learn that I had as a young child is just as active now. Along the way, I’ve acquired knowledge and skills to last a lifetime…and am still learning.
Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.
