Kindergarten Enrollment

I have many memories of school admissions mostly unpleasant ones. The first time was starting kindergarten at what was supposed to be the best school in town. My mother was a woman on a mission - she would move heaven and earth if that's what it took to get me enrolled there. It turned out that she had a friend who had graduated from there summa cum laude. One summer morning, I was taken to be "introduced" to the school principal by mom's friend.

I remember the anxiety that clouded all discussions in our home about my kindergarten admission and my mother's painstaking efforts to prep me for the "audience" that I had been so fortunately granted. At less than four I had been tasked with making the equivalent of an elevator speech and work my way in. I could tell a lot was at stake on how I fared. I don't remember what (if anything) I was asked. Maybe the event and all that led up to it was stressful enough to make me forget.

Thanks to my mother's "connections" I was enrolled without having to jump through the hoops as I would have to several othe times in my life. School admissions have been associated with mom and I visiting schools, waiting outside the principal's office, serpentine queues of people waiting for admission forms, tests and the agonizing wait to find out if I had made it.

I enrolled J at kindergarten today. I had arrived before time expecting to see a long line of parents. The whole process took less than twenty minutes. J and the other kids colored and watched Barney as we parents completed the paperwork. They will have an orientation program in a few weeks and then another one just before school starts. The school enjoys a great reputation and made a wonderful first impression on me and J. I could not help thinking about the contrast in our "starting kindergarten" experience. I missed my mother dearly this morning and wished her life had been easier.