It’s almost 5 year to the day that I was excited to see the Little People go back to school. This time, it will be their first day in Middle School.

Of course, Wow Dinga is already an ‘Old Boy’ at the Middle School, having gone there two years back, but for Ms. Papaya and Little Po, it will be a whole new ball game. Since I am not actively involved in the lives of Little Po and Wow Dinga, I have no idea of how it all was. The fact that Wow Dinga is still happy to go to school means that it couldn’t have been all that hard to navigate.

This last week, Ms. Papaya was busy getting organised for the first day of school. Luckily, the first day, in fact the first week, promises to be fun, an easy transition from the playful Junior school days to the more serious and rigorous academic days in the years ahead. No longer will they be babied and molly-coddled with childish endearments and gentle nudges of encouragement. They will soon see red marks boldy marking out their mistakes and possibly have to face consequences for shabby work.

Middle School will also mean more responsibilities and possibly longer hours with more extracurricular activities thrown in.

SAME BUT DIFFERENT

Even though the school is the same, the campus will be different. The teachers and staff I’ve bumped into the last few years will no longer be there, and it will be a while before I get familiar with them, as there will be fewer occasions to interact with the school, as the children are that much older and more independent. There will be different uniforms on different days. And projects will be more complex. There will be more day trips and the much-anticipated out-station trip!

There will be different problems to navigate and social complexities to deal with, like shifting friendships and imaginary slights as the little ones develop a stronger perception of themselves.

So I don’t know who is more apprehensive about Middle School – the Little People or me?

Ciao