The Rose Garden: Notes from a Kindergarten Mom
Struggling is the first step that growth requires.
Welcome to The Rose Garden, your place to find small beautiful things in the Land of Oaks and Roses.
School is the thing everyone in my life (and DMs) is talking about right now. Kindergarten moms especially! It’s a huge transition. The new schools feel gigantic. And they have to navigate them without us. Despite everything I’ve seen myself and heard from you, what really stands out to me is how capable our kids are. I don’t mean that they’re all capable of walking into school confidently and doing well all day. I mean that they’re capable of experiencing their own struggle. They’re so able to be in it (something I can definitely learn from.) And their struggle isn’t always in need of fixing. Most of the time, it’s actually something to admire. Struggling is the first step that growth requires. Can we, maybe, just a little, take a step back and let ourselves admire them for it?
While we’re working on our admiring abilities (ha), I’ve rounded up all my school related recommendations, notes, and answers from questions in my DMs (I try to post them on Instagram but don’t always get to it there!) If there’s something I missed, don’t hesitate to pop a question in the comments for everyone’s benefit. Enjoy!
Friendship Bracelets
We made these bracelets to help with separation nerves (which I heard come back after long breaks!) If you don’t want to make them, you could get something like this or this.
Sharing
An easy baking project or popsicles on the porch is the best way I’ve found to get my daughter to share about her day. I force myself not to ask questions and just let her share when she wants to. A lot of juicy things have come out this way!
On-The-Go Things
I always get these questions on Instagram so going to put everything here: our smoothie cups, backpack, lunch box, water bottle (personalized) and name labels for clothes and other things.
Immune System Boost
I will do anything to minimize the sickness that starts when school does. We’ve been taking this immune revival daily (code OliviaRWright will give you 15% off.) For more on this company and founder, this podcast is interesting!
Notebooks
I gave my daughter a few notebooks and pens as a first day of school gift and she’s been scribbling in them nonstop! I didn’t realize it at the time but there’s such a connection between notebooks for play and what they’ve been learning at school.
Lice Prevention
IYKYK. Lice love clean hair so take this as a permission slip to wash your kid’s hair a little less. We’ve also been adding coconut oil every morning for prevention. Tons of moms swear by this too.
Picture Day
This and this are their picture day shirts. I love them so much! These are some of my favorite brands for special clothes (Code Olivia15 will give you 15% off Oso.)
Class Book
My daughter’s class is big. My cousin is a teacher and gave me the idea to make a class book with a page about each kid in the class to help everyone (parents too!) remember names. I’m working on this now and can’t wait for all the kids to get it!
Love the ideas. And already getting emotional at the thought of kindergarten. In terms of struggle (coming from a person who’s parents were very quick to jump in and lessen the struggle) - I always wonder - if we try to fix our kids struggle or take it away for them, are we automatically signaling to them that they can’t handle it? I think I felt that a bit as a kid. Something I still work through today!
Love reading all this🌸