First day of kindergarten can come too quickly for parents

Our babies grow up too fast.


As I write this, my 5-year-old son, Braden, is sleeping in his bed, resting for his first day of kindergarten tomorrow. It seems as though he was born just yesterday.

I remember nearly every detail of his birth; the two days we spent in the hospital following it, trapped there because of bad weather; the drive home with him in the car for the first time, nervous that it would be the time I’d have my first real accident; the realization when we got home he seemed really yellow, jaundice the culprit as he hadn’t had a bowel movement in his first few days in this world; and the joy we had in calling our mothers to let them know we were having a “poop party” because he finally went.

I remember many of the sleepless nights when it seemed like we were getting up every few hours to take care of him, but then finding out he was a pretty sound sleeper compared to most babies.

We laughed when some of our friends who also had babies complained we had it easy compared to them, as their kids were keeping them up all night, every night. To this day, my wife states he developed a good sleeping habit early because she took him to a chiropractor when he was just a couple of weeks old, and the adjustments the doctor made to Braden’s back allowed him to sleep well.

I remember his first bath, his first haircut, his first tooth, his first laugh, his first crawl, his first steps, his first word, his first visit with Santa Claus.

I remember the first diaper I had to change, the first time he sprayed me as I attempted to change him, the first time he baby-barfed on me, the first time he threw food at me while I attempted to feed him, the first time he sassed me, the first time he accidentally hit me where it really hurts and the first time he broke something important to me. All funny to me now.

I’ve learned to relish the time I have with him, but I’ve also come to cherish the time he spends with his grandparents.

He and I took our first trip to Disney World in Florida together, proudly wearing pins declaring it was our first time there.

Baptism, countless vaccinations, plenty of agonizing tantrums, and his recent 4K graduation. It’s all vividly engrained in my mind, hopefully until the day I die, but it has gone by in the flash of a camera.

This despite the fact my wife and I decided to uproot our lives when he was 2. She accepted a job in Marshfield, far away from our Wautoma home, which we spent nearly a year trying to sell after I found a job at The Gazette. The commute was long and brutal, but the time still whizzed past us as we tended to the duties of raising our child.

A new town meant a new daycare for him. It was a change he adjusted to quickly.

One year after moving, my wife decided she wanted to pursue a master’s degree, and now several years later she has earned it. When he was born, we never thought either of us would ever have such a degree, especially within the first six years of his life. People with babies and small children aren’t supposed to be able to accomplish such feats.

And now as Braden begins kindergarten, I’m hoping time will slow down at least a little bit. Graduation will come way too soon if it doesn’t.

I have two pieces of advice to offer him as he begins his education: Don’t worry about messing up kindergarten like I did and do follow his mother’s example in always pursuing more education.

I’ve written about flunking kindergarten before, so I won’t elaborate too much. I’ll just say it was one of the best things to ever happen to me, as learning the basics twice made me a much better student in later grades.

As for following his mother’s example, he would be following a great role model if he chooses to do so. She’s never looked at education as a chore, but as a way to improve her life. That’s a philosophy worth following.

Although I usually take Braden to daycare in the morning, I’m allowing my wife to take him to kindergarten for his first day at St. Paul Lutheran School tomorrow. It’s my hope more of her will rub off on him, rather than more of me.

Plus, it’s one of those mother-child moments that will probably leave her in happy tears. I’d probably just drop him off and tell him not to drive his teacher nuts. I prefer to put my sentiment to written words the night before.