Worse than the First

I completely spaced that Wednesdays are late start days at the elementary.  So this morning when I took Camden to school we had plenty of time to play on the playground until the bell rang.  I noticed Camden had his hands close to his mouth and was nervously fidgeting.  I tried to ignore the desire to ask him what was wrong and was confident he could work out his jitters.  It wasn't long before he came up to me with tears in his eyes and said, "nobody wants to play with me".  "Those girls said we don't play with boys" and the boys said, "we are playing Star Wars and you have to have a yellow shirt".

My heart broke into a million pieces.  The second day of school was worse than the first for me.  Good thing I wore my big ol' sunglasses again today because the tears were coming.

I couldn't help but notice most of the kids on the playground had a buddy at their side.  Yes, there were kids clinging to their parents hugging the wall of the school.  But I could see how Camden felt a little alone surrounded by so many kids who had a friend near by. I explained to Camden that he can go run around and play by himself and still have fun, or try to meet some new people who might want to play.  Camden has never been a loner, he enjoys having a playmate. So he cautiously approached some girls who quickly ran away.  I could see with my grown up eyes that they were playing a game of tag; boys chase the girls, and the were not trying to be mean.  But Camden was devastated and came back towards me.  I turned around and pretended I didn't notice.  Just as he found me and grabbed my hand the bell rang.  I was so relieved to see the smile on his face as his teacher waved the kids into the classroom.  Phew, we were both saved by the bell!

Geez, who knew I would have such a hard time with this Kindergarten business?