My 5-year-old has had a hard 2022-2023 school year. He was also diagnosed with ADHD, so this year has a challenge not only for him but for me. We even enrolled him in tutoring 3-days / week with extra days during holiday weeks. Between tutoring, homework, extra studying and his extracurriculars, we were pushed to the limit.
“I know, baby, mom is tired too.”
He obtained great grades in science and social studies. He brought his grade significantly up in math, but he failed in English. We were told by his school that he would not be going on the 1st grade.
The awards recognition program is in about two weeks, and I just want to curl up into my bed and cry. While there is no Kindergarten graduation at his school, his friends walking into 1st grade next year, while he walks back into a Kindergarten class, is a shot in the back – for me. It’s the feeling of “being left behind” that hurts me as a parent. I reassured my little that his friends will still be at his school, just not in the same class.
Yet I have not had one parent tell me that holding back their little a grade in school was a bad decision. Retaining him/her has only helped them. I understand this, but it still makes me sad.
Times have changed, and so is what is being taught and how it’s being taught in schools. When I was in Kindergarten, we took naps, played and made arts & crafts. Now, core subjects are taught early on, and Kindergarten is now the new 1st grade.
Knowing that this will only help our son, I still cannot help but think it’s my fault. The mom guilt gets to me as we walk through this season of life. This season of life is called Kindergarten – Chapter 2 when we will take a new photo of my oldest son holding up his 1st day of school sign. As a mom, I will use this as a positive experience showing our son that practice makes perfect. He went from being one the youngest in his class to possibly one of the oldest, and that is okay.
It is okay to say “let’s try that again.”
Repetition is not failure, only a chance to come back stronger … and to my son, Mom is right there with you.
