Our son began his first year of middle school last week. I didn’t write a post about it because I was both too tired from my long journey home from DragonCon, and then I needed to write about the magic of that show before its wonder wore off. But now that I’ve had a week to recover and my boy has been going to middle school for a week, I can more confidently post about these early days.
Our school district has middle school start for fifth graders instead of sixth graders, so he’s starting a bit earlier than most kids. I was afraid of that being too early, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
He’s taking the bus for the first time! I’ve dropped him off and picked him up since he was in preschool, so not being responsible for his transportation to-and-from school is admittedly a little weird. Luckily we live just within the area where bus pickups begin, so his ride to-and-from school is short. On the downside, the day begins an hour earlier than we’ve been used to, so forcing ourselves out of bed has been difficult.
I am, for now, waiting at the bus stop with him. I believe he’s the only fifth grader at that spot so I’m the only dad. It is, admittedly, a little awkward being the only adult surrounded by middle schoolers, and I know that one day soon he’s not going to want me there hovering over him, but I’ll wait with him until he tells me otherwise. I feel like it’s that last bit of him needing me for school drop-off and pickup, and I want to hold onto it as long as I can.
And these are only the first week of school transitions. In middle school there will be many more to come, as after-school programs begin and social cliques start to form. Middle school is rough on everyone, and while I’m confident my boy will handle those transitions they’re still going to be difficult.
But like every new aspect of school this year, we’ll take it one transition at a time.