Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Gabby's first day as a First grader

Gabby wakes up at the crack of dawn for the first time in her life and gets her hair done.
Meanwhile, Alex makes "Batman" with his tortilla.
After eating Gabby's favorite breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage, we're ready to go.
Noah joined us on our walk to school
Gabby finds her desk, and I leave my daughter in the care of the school system for a full day.

Update: it has now been a week and a half and Gabby hates school (I thought it was just kindergarten, and that with a new teacher things might improve--nope, they got worse). Gabby now cries every night before going to bed because she's scared she won't be able to find her teacher after recess. We had to pick her up early last Friday when we got a call from her teacher saying that Gabby was having a hard time. I ate lunch with her on Monday and walked around with her at recess and now she would like me to do that every day. It's so hard to see Gabby go through this--I'd love to say, "okay Gabby, first grade really doesn't matter. Just stay home with me." The saddest thing is that during recess, Gabby doesn't really play with the other kids (she's usually so social, this surprised me) instead, she tags along one of the "moms" that monitors the kids while they play outside. Any ideas? Do I switch schools? Do I home school and risk that she'll become one of those socially awkward kids? Or do I just wait in hopes that things improve (this is where I'm at right now though I don't know how long I can last)?

10 comments:

Max Power said...

Oh! Poor Gabby. I had no idea it was so rough for her. (Other than Friday. I'd heard about that one but chalked it up to the excitement of Oliver.)

I have no idea of how to help, other than to say keep sticking it out? Let me know if there is anything we can do to help. Maybe we can hype things up and make a big deal out of how neat school is.

Unfortunately school is just one of those things that won't go away for a while. But you don't need to introduce that harsh reality of life to her just yet. Her spirit doesn't need to be completely crushed.

rsheedy said...

Oh, I feel so badly! I hated school too, but I was painfully shy so that didn't help at ALL. I wish there was something I could do to help!!

Zachary said...

Please don't home school her...give her time. She will be fine.

I know there are a few rare cases where homeschooling has churned out some wonderful people. However, the majority do have social issues.

The Carter Family: said...

How sad for you...and for Gabby! Maybe you could start arranging play dates w/ some of the girls in her class to get her more comfortable being around them and maybe when she wakes up and knows she has some friends at school she will be happier to go-because who wants to go anywhere when they don't really know anybody? And, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Anytime you tell your story and say how much Oliver weighed, people are going to be in awe of you-I definitely am!! That is one BIG baby you were able to push out w/o tearing-how AMAZING!!!

patshala said...

Congrats on the new baby! How exciting! Gabby look so adorable for her first day of school. She looked perfect! I am so sorry she is having a hard time. I hope it gets better. I wish I had advice, but you are much more experienced than me.

Gretch said...

That makes me so sad for Gabby. I thought she would love school. Has she told you why she doesn't exactly like school? I can just picture her at recess, so sad. I think we have all experienced that feeling before, it is not fun. It must be so hard to see your own daughter going through that. Good luck and the wait and see idea I think will be the best.

She looks SOOOO Stickin cute though!!

Julie Weiss said...

I have no advice ... but need to comment on how unbelievably cute and adorable she is on the first day. You need to send that picture in to srome magazine. SO CUTE!

The Olsons said...

It's so hard to see your kids struggle and have a hard time with something. It's so natural for us to help them and make them happy. I would give her a while and see how she does. Do you make her fun lunches. That is what gets Devyn all excited about school each day, a fun lunch and a note from mom.
Good Luck ~Sara

dramatic sporano said...

These are really hard decisions. Gabby is so remarkable. I am certain you'll figure out just what to do.

The Lund Five said...

I recently experienced the same thing with Landon. He really enjoyed Kindergarten and loved his teacher. Now he is in 1st grade and it is a lot harder. He kept saying he didn't want to go to school and didn't like it.

Recently he said that he didn't have anyone to play with at recess. This was after being in school for about a month. But the other day he came home and said that he made a new friend. I asked who and he said "Lucas" who was actually in his Kindergarten class. He said he was playing with all of Lucas' friends too.

My advice is to hang in there. Hopefully it will get better. I also agree with Ruth, maybe you could arrange some play dates with other girls in her class so she can make some new friends. I hope that it gets better soon.

Also congratulations on the new baby Oliver!