First Day Funk

My son went to school this morning, his first day as a Grade One student in my alma mater, USLS-IS. He went to school early and together with his mom, they looked for his section and room. My son is Grade 1-B and his adviser is new teacher, at least somebody whom I am not familiar with. We were able to talk to the teacher at the end of the day and she told us that there are a lot of Grade 1 students enrolled for this year. In my son's class alone, they are around 42 of them. As expected, they were plenty of parents hounding the corridors, taking pictures of their kids' first day in school as grade one. I was lucky that I have a scheduled seminar in Bacolod this morning so I was able to see my son off to school before heading for the one-day seminar.

He was kind of shy at first and he looked taller than the rest of his classmates. He was seated at the 5th row, at the very last chair. I was quite concerned because he might get distracted and he would not listen well to his teachers. I do hope he could get transfered to the front seats instead.

I was kind of wary of sending him to school this morning. Last night he was complaining of some pain on his neck, particularly on the right side of his neck. I was able to feel a soft and tender lump on his neck and I was suspecting maybe parotitis (mumps). I was hoping that it wasn't because it would mean skipping school for about 5 to 7 days or until the swelling subsides.

So after school, I brought him to the school's clinic so he could also familiarize himself with the staff at the clinic and asked the doctor on duty if indeed it was mumps and she concurred. So, we won't be attending school tomorrow. Instead, he will be needing lots of bed rest and fluids and nutritious foods. As for me, I will be heading back to Candoni before dawn.

It was a nice feeling to see one's son take that first step towards independence. Sure, we want our children to grow up and live their lives according to their choices, learn lessons of life according to their own pace, but somehow, we can't help but have this feeling that you want them not to grow. You want them to be kids forever. Nevertheless, we parents should also let go of them. So, today was also a step towards letting go of our children.