Where did the summer go?

The summer has come and gone in the blink of an eye. It seems like every summer goes faster and faster. I thought maybe it was just me, so I asked a few friends if they thought this summer just flew by and they agreed. I am trying to figure out where the time goes.

As I started thinking about the summer just flying by, I realized my kids are growing up so fast. They are moving up another grade level this year. It’s hard to believe that my oldest daughter is going into fourth grade. In my mind it seems like just the other day she was born. My youngest or my baby isn’t really a baby anymore; she is going into second grade.

I remember the first time I took my oldest daughter to school. It was preschool. I thought it was going to be hard for her, but I think it was harder for me to let go. She was almost four.  She went to the preschool at our church and was in the VPK program, short for Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten. It’s a state funded preschool program. I remember thinking three hours a day, five days a week is just such a long time to be away from my daughter. By the end of the year, those hours and days went by quickly. Before I knew it, she was graduating from VPK.

After VPK I had another first with my daughter, kindergarten. It was the first time going to school all day. I had a hard time leaving my daughter, but my daughter had a harder time letting me go. It was awful the first few weeks of school. My daughter cried every day for me not to leave her. She had a wonderful teacher, so it wasn’t that. She just wanted me to be with her. After a few weeks it got better. It’s just a transition kids have to go through, some more than others.

First, second and third grades weren’t so hard leaving my daughter. Each year it has gotten easier. I think I am more relaxed because I know the school more and I know the teachers better. As a parent, it’s hard letting your kids go to school when you watch the news and see school shootings and kids being bullied. You want to protect your kids, but most of us can’t be at school with our kids and we just have to just trust that they will be safe.

I would say it gets easier with the second child and it does, but I still have had my moments. I remember leaving my second daughter for the first time at preschool and just bawling my eyes out. I was sad because I knew she was the last one I would have go to preschool. Just like with my oldest daughter everything is a first, with my second daughter everything is the last.

I still keep asking myself, “Do I really have a fourth grader and a second grader?” Moms my best advice is if you have young kids, make sure you take the time to enjoy them. You can’t get years back and you can’t make time go any slower. I’ve tried by telling my girls they can’t grow up, but it hasn’t worked yet.