I Learned it in Kindergarten

Shortly after I started Silver Pennies, John started kindergarten.  I was quite apprehensive and nervous about letting my ‘baby’ go off for the WHOLE day and be away from us.  I wrote the post to you all with tears in my eyes – I was that mom blubbering all the way home from school.  If you missed it, here is what I wrote.

The first day of kindergarten

Well, John’s last day of kindergarten was on Friday.  The school year passed so quickly and I’m happy to report he has really grown.  He loves to help with chores around the house, he’s so very kind and always knows the right phrasing.  “Mommy, let’s try to do it with team work.”  Or when I thought I broke Conor’s daybed, “Take a deep breath, Mommy, it is going to be okay.”

Anyway, in his backpack on the last day of school was a poem written by Robert Fulghum which I wanted to share with you all.  It is absolutely beautiful and so true.  I’m sure it will bring back memories of your own childhood experiences:

All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
by Robert Fulghum
Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten.
These are the things I learned:

sharing at Holly Hill Farm

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Say sorry when you hurt somebody.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t your’s.
Live a balanced life.

Balance

Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day.

a little work

Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch for traffic.
Hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the plastic cup.  The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

via

Think of what a better world it would be if we all – the whole world- had cookies and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap.

Conor napping with his blankie, doggie

Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes.  And it is true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.


Isn’t that lovely?  I’m so loving spending quality time with my big 6 year old and little 2 year old.  Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we all napped in the afternoon, held hands and stuck together?

Sticking together, photo by Katina Bentley