A Lifetime of Searching for Classrooms

For our family, independence day (it's celebrated here in the Philippines on June 12) came two days early. June 10 was the start of classes at my son's big school and at the entrance was this sign: "Parents are not allowed to bring their sons to the classrooms."

"What? How will my kid know the way?" I could hear the thoughts of those worried moms and dads, ourselves included.

We were grateful to the school though since the teachers already mentioned this during the previous orientation. So, with that in mind, we trooped to school last June 8 to show Adi the way. We even brought his heavy stroller bag to simulate the whole thing. Talk about having weird parents! Well, we did see other parents with their kids mumbling the same thing (i.e. O, do you know the way na?) but none of them had their bags with them.

Anyway, the first time we went to the classroom and back, we did it together. The next few times (about 2-3), Adi had to do things on his own and we just followed him quietly. The first time he did it, he took a wrong turn already and didn't even realize he did until we gave him pretty numerous clues. After that, he finally got it.

It was so tempting to help him once in awhile when he seemed so unsure of himself. It was also gratifying though to see him go such a long way, by himself, after having been taught once or twice only that day.

I guess it will be a lifetime of searching for classrooms for us, parents. We teach our kids and then need to stand back. We have to be confident enough that they will find their way by themselves. Our kids are smart. They'll survive. And they will have to learn certain things on their own, without us.

That's why there was a lot of crying and handholding in school last June 10 too. As my hubby put it: "Dami ngang umiiyak na parents."