First day at school
Last week I was out shopping and noticed some ‘first day at school’ greetings cards in a number of greetings cards shop windows. My immediate thought was I can’t bear another hallmark occasions being shoved down our throats.
But then a few nights ago I was ironing the last of the name tags onto my son’s school clothes I was suddenly quite emotional about the fact that he was starting school for the first time, and that it had all come round far too quickly. It seemed like just the other day we were returning from hospital with a newborn bundle.
It suddenly came to me that this occasion i.e. ‘starting school for the first time’ was one of those significant moments in life.
Sure learning has been happening since the day he was born – but this is the start of a structured approach to educating him. So I went online to www.SentForever.com and sent him a wish from his Dad and me on this very special occasion of him starting school for the first time. I wanted my words to be quite profound and so I searched the internet looking for appropriate quotes on education and came across the following site http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/edquotes.html. The inspirational quote I chose was ‘The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth. – J. F. Kennedy’ and then I added my own sentiments. The end result is something that I think demonstrates the signifcance of the day plus our emotional intent for him.
On the morning of his first day, I presented the envelope to him at breakfast, and he was delighted that something has arrived in the mail for him on his big day. He tore the envelope open and then shrieked ‘look it’s a satellite dish’ when he saw the card. I read the message to him which is on the Certificate of Transmission. I don’t think the words made the impression I wanted it to. Certainly not now (in his defence he is only 4 years old). But in years to come when he is older he can enter his unique tracking number and see the distance his personal message has travelled through the universe, and hopefully reflect on why I choose the words I did, and what it could mean for his future.
I’d like to think this message which has been sent out into eternity is something he will look at when he starts high school and hopefully university. I hope he finds it inspiring.
