Starting school- tears.

Thanks for humoring me with your comments on the last post. 

Asher really did start school, but like I said, no uniform. Although, most schools here do have uniforms for the kids (nothing like he's wearing in the picture- just the classic school uniform).  We just got lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it).

I would have posted about it sooner, but we both had a rough start.  The tears (from him) usually began just as I was saying goodbye.  Asher would cry and the teacher would just wave me to go and tell me he'd be ok.  Twice I had to physically pry his arms off of me. I cried once I got to my car.

Some reasons behind the Asher's tears.

1. Jet lag/ Tired- school started just 36 hours after our return home from the U.S.  We skipped the first day and made it to 3 days the first week and 4 the second.
2. New school, new friends, new teacher.
3. Foreign language- no he isn't being taught in Arabic, but he is going to a bilingual preschool so half of his day is spent with German speaking teachers.  I think once he realized that he wasn't the only one who doesn't speak German, he was fine.  Like I said, the first few days were rough.
4. Dad was out of town and Asher was just missing his grandparents and all the fun we had in the States.

reasons behind my tears:

1. I have a hard time seeing my kids in emotional pain.
2. I was tired and not getting much sleep trying to get myself and the kids readjusted to the time change.
3. the main reason was that I just kept questioning whether I should really have him in preschool in the first place.  I have been weighing the pros and cons all summer long. Pros: fun, make friends, a little free time for me and Ivy, learning opportunities, it's free (provided by John's work) fun, fun , fun.  Cons: picking up bad habits from other kids, less control of what he's learning/ doing, we miss him, is it too much too early? he has the rest of him life to be in school, and he's three! etc. etc.

Well, we started slow, not going to school every day.  When we did get to school, the tears were there at drop off, but when I picked him up, he seemed so happy and the teachers all told me the tears only lasted for less than 5 minutes and then he was completely fine. He laughed made friends, just enjoyed himself.

Dad returned from his trip, Asher made a few friends in his class, we all got readjusted to the time change, he's slowly figuring out what the teachers are saying even if he can't speak the language and he's having a great time. There have been no tears since (although now, it's sometimes difficult to get him off the playground and ready to head home- go figure).

I still hope and pray that I'm doing the right thing.  I think I'm aware, involved and open-minded enough that if things don't seem to be right, I will make the necessary changes.