Voila! Noah and Nathan on their first day of 8th & 5th grade. My boys. They are amazing people. I just love them so much. They actually both got up at 6 a.m. joyfully; cheerfully. Let's hope each & every day this school year will be like that...
The school-cone is a German tradition for the first day of first grade. When Noah started first grade, he had a big one. Nathan, in Kindergarten at the time, had a small one. Nathan never had one for first grade (long story), so this year I decided to make the first day of school special. I surprised them with a school-cone. Nathan got the big one... a couple of years late & Noah has the lil' one as an 8th grader.
The i-tunes gift card is not part of that German tradition. Ha. As my children are getting older, I'm realizing that I need to loosen the chains a bit. He's almost 14... For some reason this is the first year ever that we are jumping on the new clothing, backpack, lunchbox... first day of school wagon (out of necessity, really). It's a very American thing we've never done.
Well, I better go & get ready before we're late on the first day because I'm blogging.
Edited to add: Just before we were leaving, Nathan said to Noah, "Why did you put your i-tunes gift card into the trash?" Noah says, "What? It's a real gift card? I thought Mom was tricking me with a fake advertisement." Oh my! :-)
Edited to add: Just before we were leaving, Nathan said to Noah, "Why did you put your i-tunes gift card into the trash?" Noah says, "What? It's a real gift card? I thought Mom was tricking me with a fake advertisement." Oh my! :-)
10 comments:
Happy first day of school to those handsome boys! My Eldest is soon to be 13, and that whole chain-loosening thing is quite a trip for the mama, isn't it? I love the school-cones, and am pleased to have learned something new about the German culture :-)
Blessings...
PLEASE . . . don't become a "helicopter parent." One of the best, and scariest things I saw as a 6th grade teacher, all 34 years, was parents giving a little on the chains and the kids deciding what they were going to do with their 1st bits of "parental" freedom.
It was sweet on both sides . . both were just as scared as the other . . . neither wanted to make a mistake with this new freedom.
You have "parented" well, so the boys will have sense with the freedoms they are receiving.
\0/ paula
You're right, Paula.
It's scary, though.
There are lots of scary things out there & it's really hard to trust that everything will be okay. - But then that's just how *I* function (or not). :-)
Love the cones. The new clothes, backpack etc really are an American thing, aren't they. We don't do it either.
If you build your relationship with your boys on mutual respect, then everything will turn out fine. Looks like you're doing a great job so far!
Lovely lads, cheers Marie
Have your boys grown up in America? Just wondering if they experience culture shock at all, being of German descent... How exciting, I used to love the first day back at school! Totally being nosy but I'm sure I read somewhere that you are a fan of Waldorf, do your kids go to a Waldorf school?
Also, I still can't decide on a colour! I know, I'm so ridiculous! Sorry, will get back to you very soon! x
Wonderful that your boys are so sweet and so good to their mama!
I wished I had thought in time to make the girls a little something special for their first day of school. They did get a chalkboard drawing and a new summer circle time though, and they were quite pleased with it.
Getting ready to celebrate my daughter's back-to-school next week with my usual cry. Fortuantely it soon passes and the next day I'm raring to make the most of my freedom once again. What is inside those cones?
Stella - They've mostly grown up here in the U.S. We don't walk a mainstream path no matter where we live, so I wouldn't call it a culture shock. :-) Except for a 2-months period one year, they have *always* attended a Waldorf school. This is their 9th Waldorf year (Kindergarten included). I'm actually a Waldorf teacher. My 9th year, too!
Sue - Sweet treats, mostly. For first graders it often also includes practical things, like a pencil case. I added the i-tunes card for Noah & a carving knife for Nathan. This was an unusual splurge, really. These days there's a lot of focus on the baby & I just wanted to do something special for them.
They are so funny! I love the reaction to the I tunes.... I have a German friend who does the cone gifts....she does it around xmas too I think
Sending you love and light
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