First Day of School: Letter to our little man

To our little man on your first day of school

It's been nearly five years in the making and the countdown calendar is now complete - it's your first day of school!

We are so happy that you are you excited and looking forward to starting school but just remember it's okay to be a little nervous too.  Dad and I are a little nervous.  Want to know why?

You have been our little man, cocooned in our little world surrounded by our love, our values and our idea of what is right, wrong and important.  And we have done a pretty good job at convincing you that we are the smartest and funniest and most all-knowing beings in the world. Unfortunately for us you are probably going to find out sooner rather than later that this may not actually be the case!

School is a wild, weird but mostly wonderful place. At school you will learn about so many new things and you will meet a lot of new and different people.  You'll begin to work out what is important and meaningful to you and as a result you will start to become more independent.  You'll start to work out who you want to be rather than who we hope you'll be.

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I have faith that the person you'll become will be an amazing little someone and that you will constantly delight us with your ability to find your own way and make the right decisions.  But just in case you need a little extra help in the beginning here are my three best pieces of advice:

• Be Brave
• Be Kind
• Be Respectful

Be brave enough to always be yourself and to stand up for what you think is right and wrong.

Be brave enough to ask questions, seek help when you need it and to volunteer answers.

Be brave enough to ask another question if you are still unsure, seek more help if you need it and volunteer another answer even if your first one was wrong.

Be brave enough to lead and kind enough to know when to follow.

Be brave enough to take risks, try new things and seize opportunities that come your way.

Be brave enough to tell us about your day; the good, the bad, the ugly and the absolutely amazing.  Although your retelling of your day will have the ability to swell our hearts with pride or break it  into a million pieces if you been hurt, we promise that by telling us you can double your joy and halve your pain.

Be kind to your teacher - offer to help, smile often and always laugh at her jokes (even the bad ones!)

Be kind to your classmates - all of them, all of the time. The ones you share similar interests with, the one you don't know and the ones who are different.  You never know where you might just find your new best friend.

Be kind to yourself and be proud when you have worked hard, accomplished something great, experienced success or learnt something new.  Always celebrate how great you are!

Be kind to yourself when you've had a hard or challenging day.  Remember the challenge is to keep trying and to never give up.

Be respectful to your teacher; listen, pay attention, follow instructions and always be ready to learn.  Always be respectful in what you say and how you say it.

However, maybe I'm over complicating things by giving you all of this advice.  When we ask you what you are most looking forward to at school you  have consistently replied "Learning new things, making new friends and playing games at lunchtime".  And you know what? That sounds pretty great to me.


So since you seem to have it sorted, maybe as we head through the gate for the first time I'll reach out to take your hand and I'll follow your lead.

And I promise I'll try not to cry...too much.

Go and get them little man.

Love you to the moon and back.

Love Mum and Dad

Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT.


Keep smiling
Dani xx