From the Cradle to Crayons

So you have a baby, and you are so busy loving and caring for this child that you don't even notice how quickly the first few years have passed you by. Of course everyone tells you this is going to happen, but it's one of those things you can't really understand until you go through it yourself. Infancy, toddlerhood, the preschool years, and before we know it—kindergarten! How on earth did that happen so fast? It's such a big step, and it's really the beginning of formal education as we know it. There are so many different things to think about and various decisions to make regarding the beginning of this journey.

Many people base their decision of where they are going to live or where to buy a house based on the public school system in a particular area. Others research different private schools. No matter what your intention or desire is, you are giving this next step a lot of consideration, as you should. Once you decide on the school, there is plenty for parents to think about. This book is here to guide you through this wonderful, exciting, and sometimes overwhelming journey.

I very clearly remember the first time someone mentioned to me that I had to register my son for school. It was only January, and he was still four years old. I panicked. What? No one told me this before! Does everyone else know about this? September seemed so far away. I remember wishing at that exact moment—and many times since—that I had some kind of handbook or guide to tell me what to do or what I needed to know. After all, I had lived by my What to Expect When You're Expecting book each time I was pregnant, rereading it each time as if I had never had a baby before. Yes, I had a wonderful mother and two older sisters to help me, but I wanted to curl up in bed at night when everything was finally quiet and just really take it all in. Correction—I wanted to soak it all in. I wanted to know everything I should know about my child starting kindergarten. So over the years I started making mental notes, which became scribbles on paper. The scribbles became pages, and the pages have become this book.

Allow me to preface this book with one very clear fact: I do not have all the answers. What you are about to read are merely my observations, experiences, and some lessons learned throughout the years. It's an attempt to guide you through the journey of kindergarten. As an educator and a parent, I have so much I'd like to share with you on an extremely important topic: our children. Parenting today is challenging, to say the least. Yet it is the number-one most important job in the world, and it doesn't even come with a manual.

Can you imagine attempting to perform surgery, fixing the engine of a car, or being an accountant without ever having any education in those fields or at least a crash course to prepare you somewhat? Of course not, but that's what parenting is like—figuring it out as you go along, making mistakes and trying not to repeat them. It's not easy. I'm sure every generation before us felt the same way, as will our own children when they finally enter into this phase as well. But let's be honest here: we are up against a lot more nowadays than any other generation before us. My own mother tells me she feels sorry for parents raising children in today's world. The age of technology is moving faster than we can even possibly keep up with. Just when I've talked my oldest out of having a Facebook account, my youngest is on Instagram! They know more than I do about technology, and that is a very scary concept. Cell phones, texting, laptops, Facebook, Twitter, and Vine—I don't even know who is in my own house sometimes with FaceTime! I hear voices of my children's friends in their bedrooms as if they are actually here: "Hey, Mom! Say hi to Dan! Say hi to Becky!" I can't keep up.

We parents are up against more external influences today than ever before. If you are reading this, thinking, This won't become a big problem for our family; I'll stay right on top of things with my children, good luck! No one can escape the challenges of raising children with technology. It is and will continue to be part of life as our children know it. I wish I could count how many five- and six-year-olds have brought in their iPod or iPad for show-and-tell. The things they are exposed to or can be influenced by are far out of our reach to some degree. Of course it is our responsibility to monitor what our children are doing, especially when it comes to Internet access, but what is readily available to them without our consent is startling.

So how do we raise decent, kind, well-mannered, and intelligent children? Where do we begin on this journey we call parenthood? In a word—home. Everything begins in the home. The examples we set and the things we teach our children will shape who they become and the relationships they will develop and will give them the roots they need to grow and find happiness in their lives. As I have mentioned, I'm a teacher. Teachers tend to blame parents, and parents tend to blame teachers for what we are seeing in today's youth. As I have the wonderful and blessed opportunity of being both teacher and a parent, I say let's stop this now. Let's work together and help our children along their path. Parents and teachers must be a cohesive unit. We are all advocates for the child. We need to remember that we are all on the same team and we all want the same result in the end: to have a happy and successful child.

When we think of success, we need to remember that success isn't necessarily measured just by the report card. Sure, high grades are more than desirable. After all, we now have additional learning centers, both before and after school; math programs over the summer to keep parents from living in fear that their students will be "behind" all the other kids; as well as honors systems starting in many schools as early as the third grade.

When we are talking about the success of the child, we have to think of the whole child—the big picture. Does your child have friends he or she enjoys playing with? Is he involved in some form of sport or physical activity? Does she have hobbies? Is he willing to try new things? Can she use her imagination? Are the children happy? Are they independent? Are they ready to venture out on their own in the school setting? Where can this all come together for your child? In kindergarten. Kindergarten is where this all begins.

Most of us have some specific recollections or memories of kindergarten. My husband fell in love at age...