MDO

Well, this past week the girls started their schooling adventure in the form of Mother's Day Out at New Covenant. Actually, they call it Children's Day Out at their school, which I have to disagree with since I believe the person getting the most enjoyment out of these days of the week is, indeed, me. However, I have come to see that the girls very much enjoy their time there, as well (minus those first few minutes they think I have abandoned them and are never coming back). Like all parents, I was very nervous about the first day. How will they react? Will I have to come pick them up early? What if they never adjust to school? Will we have to homeschool them? Will they be the "weird twins" that have a secret language and don't play well with other children? They cry the entire time they are in the church nursery for 45 minutes, there is no way they'll make it a full day. All of these thoughts and questions ran through my head; but as it turns out, they really loved it. I couldn't have been more shocked when their sweet teachers raved about how great they did, how well they played with everyone, napped, ate, etc.  Whew. Looks like we won't have to homeschool them after all. Everyone kept saying they would do great because "they have each other." Which is a great idea, in theory, but never seems to matter at home, church, or anywhere else they become cranky and only want their mama. However, Miss Jennifer told me on the first day when I came to pick them up, that right before nap time, they sat against the wall together for a few minutes and held hands. I know, precious right? I was a little sad I missed that sweet moment and also wondered why they are never that sweet to each other at home. It was definitely one of those moments where I realized how blessed they are to be twins, and how forever lucky they truly are to be able to go through all of life's tough situations together. Wouldn't we all love to have a built in buddy on those scary first days of school?

Being the great mom I am, this was the only picture I captured of their first day of school. Let's hope I do better on the first day of Kindergarten. 

This morning I was reading my new favorite blog, and I was so deeply touched by her post today. Specifically, this segment of it. Although my girls are several years away from starting real school, I sincerely hope I can somehow convey this thought to them one day before they do start. I can see how it can be so easy as parents to get caught up in wanting our kid to be the best, the teacher's favorite, the most popular, smartest, etc. But I hope with all of my heart that my kids know that this is what we really care about.

Chase – We do not care if you are the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if you get straight As. We don’t care if the girls think you’re cute or whether you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or most Pokemon cards or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care.

 We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done.

We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.

Kind people are brave people. Brave is not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.

Trust me, baby, it is. It is more important.

 Don’t try to be the best this year, honey.

Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.

xoxo