Last Updated on March 5, 2024
The countdown is on. I officially have a little less than 12 months until I walk my first-born into kindergarten, wave goodbye, and go home without her.
In the last month I have watched a countless number of friends and acquaintances send their little ones off to school, accompanied by new backpacks and “first day of school” pictures on Facebook. I even took one myself for my girls’ first day of Mother’s Day Out. But deep down I was relieved that I was just sending my girls off for one day out of the week and not for the next 12 years, essentially.
But the fact remains that in one short year, I’ll send my oldest to kindergarten, where she’ll be exposed to people of different backgrounds, decide for herself if she wants to eat or trade her lunch, and be held by the hands of God, not her mama’s clinching grip.
It’s going to take a little more faith on my part to be able to let her go. Do I believe that God will listen to my desperate Mama Bear prayers? Do I trust Him to be where I can’t, in every decision and situation?
Thankfully I have a year to continue prepping my heart for that day. But this “back to school” season has reminded me that it will be here all too soon. And it’s up to me to decide how we’ll spend this next dozen months.
So I’m deciding now to spend them praying and preparing. Doing the Hokey Pokey in the kitchen and belting out Bible school songs in the car. Playing “Two Little Monkeys” after bath time and to never missing prayers before bed.
Because you only get to build a foundation once. And we have 12 months to build ours as strong as it can be.
————
You just finished reading the blog post The Countdown to Kindergarten by Kelcie Huffstickler. What’s next?
Do you remember sending your first child off to school? Or are you in a situation similar to Kelcie’s?
Tonight at bedtime give extra hugs, cuddles, and butterfly kisses. No matter how old your children are, think about how you can connect with them over the next week to strengthen their foundation.
Share this post with your friends and take a MOMent to leave a comment below with your best advice to moms who took their little ones to kindergarten this year!
Kelcie Huffstickler has a B.S. in Journalism from Arkansas State University and has written for a number of family publications and websites. She and her high-school-sweetheart hubby have been married for seven years and parents for four. They have two daughters, Eden and Selah, and sometimes feel like they’re swimming upstream in the toddler years. Kelcie’s husband is a firefighter, and she works part-time as a high school abstinence education instructor. Despite feeling overwhelmed by this stage of life, Kelcie is committed to intentional parenting and passing a heritage of faith to her children. She enjoys living among family in the safety of a small town and writes about it on her blog This Beautiful Inheritance. @Kelciehuff
Pray, prepare, pay attention, and pass them to the Lord. Who after all, loves them even more than we do.
Sounds like you have a fun year ahead of you, and you are making the most of it! Wanted to toss out another option, homeschooling. It may not be an option for your family. But if it is, you could have a lot of fun! My kindergartner and preschooler and baby and me went to a dairy farm today with a homeschool group. We are going on lots of field trips and learning lots at home.