Stepping Stone 1

Panchami started school today. She is my three-year-old granddaughter. They stay at Thrippunithura, Kochi. She has been enrolled at Global Public School, in the Pre-kg section. All of us at home had been preparing her for this day. We were telling her happy stories about school and the nice experiences that her brother and sister had had( my older grandkids). She was quite proud of her new bag, raincoat, books and other school paraphernalia. Her brand new snack box was always in her hand, with her suggesting different edibles that she could carry along for the snacks break. The school was very particular that we send only snacks which were good for the child's health. All preparations were in place and we woke up bright and early. She was ready in no time, insisting that she wanted to carry her bag herself. Arun, Drisya, Panchami and I reached the School well in time. In fact we were the first ones to reach there. The classroom was well decorated with all kinds of props that would appeal to the tiny tots. The two teachers handling her class were so warm and welcoming. They took her hand and tried to coax her to enter the classroom. There the trouble began. She held on tightly to Drisya's hand, at the same time saying "no, no, I don't want school." The teacher had cut-outs of animals which she held out to Panchami. She told her "come dear let's play with these". But to no avail. Finally Drisya also went into the classroom and sat with her. Arun & I waited just outside. Teacher then succeeded in distracting her with some lovely toys and we were able to move away from there. But, we knew that she would soon be in tears and looking around for us. Though we were planning to stay back at school itself till the children were let off, the teachers suggested that it would be better if we returned home and came back later to fetch her. Very reluctantly and with a feeling that we were letting her down, we came back home. We couldn't wait for afternoon to rush back to school to pick her up. She was so happy to see us and immediately started talking about her day. However, at the end she said that she'd rather not go to school tomorrow. All children are like that. I remember my kids too. It's but natural, they are pulled out of a secured environment all on a sudden and thrust into one where they feel threatened, abandoned even. It will take some time for them to adjust to their new surroundings, to realise that they are safe there, to feel assured that at the end of the day they will be taken back home. Till such time we parents will have to undergo the daily trauma

-PR

9/06/2025