First Day of K.

Today. First day of Kindergarten for Alec. He was so excited and so ready to get in and play and meet new friends. Today is only a partial day and tomorrow will start the full (half-day) routine.

I was apprehensive not because I he would not have a great time but because of concern about his safety. As you know last year we did an exhaustive search for a school that we A. liked and B. would keep him safe. We really thought we had found it with this one. Now, I am questioning our choice.

In the spring when we chose the school we were under the impression that we would be picking him up before lunch. This is true but for the fog delays, which are a plenty, and will mean that he stays for lunch. We were also under the impression that they would be willing to ban peanuts for lunch. Apparently that is not the case. And, when we requested an additional time to sit down (yesterday) and go over some additional questions we had, we were met with distinct hostility. Snarky, this -is-not-rocket-science like comments, eye rolls and a couple of comments about our over protection left me wishing I made a different choice.

Through fake smiles and gritted teeth Averill and I carried out the conversation nicely (you catch more bee's with honey Averill keeps telling me). Overall, I do believe he will be safe - I would not send him otherwise but will the powers-that-be loose the "I ate peanut butter all my life so these kids should be able to as well" (yes, she really said that) attitude? Probably not.

Interesting that I have never run into a single parent that was not totally willing to adjust lunch for the safety of a child. Weird that the administrator and teacher are so opposed. On the playground after I picked him up a Mom came to me and said, "you know my kid will not eat anything but PB for lunch, is there a good alternative?" this is the kind of thing I love, a parent who understands and is willing to consider that there ARE alternatives. I wish I could say as much for the conversation I had at school. Oh well, I have a year to assure them that it really not the end of the world not to have PB around.

As a side note... we had a "going to K party last night". More of this to come...