Yesterday was Ruby’s first official day at pre-school. She was excited; I was sad. It went well. She was only there for three and a half hours, and it was only her first day, but I was eager to get her impressions. Here is what I got out of her.
Me: Ruby, did you make any new friends at school today? Who was your favorite kid?
Ruby: Well, it was pretty hard to tell them apart.
Me: I see. Well, what did they look like? What color hair did they have?
Ruby: They all had brown hair that was the same. I was the only blonde one. I am the tallest one too.
Me (thinking): Surely they can’t all be short and dark. One of them must look distinctive….
Ruby: Oh, I remember one kid’s name. Ben. He’s different, because his name is Ben.
Ruby: Hey Dad, do you want to know the two rules of pre-school?
Me: Yes, what are they?
Ruby: The first one is, if you drink water, you have to drink it near your cubby.
Me: Oh, ok.
Ruby: The other rule is, if you are carrying a chair, you have to have one hand on the seat, and one hand on the back.
Me: I see. And those are the only two rules that your school has?
Ruby: Yup. Oh, wait, also there was something about hand washing. Okay, three rules.
Ruby: We had special music time today.
Me: Oh, cool. Did you learn a new song?
Ruby: No, we just pretended to be things that can fly.
Me: Oh, okay. What were you?
Ruby: I was a bird. Actually, all the kids were birds, because the school forgot to teach us about dragons.
Me: So you had a lot of fun at school today?
Ruby: Yes!
Me: And did the teacher say what was going to happen tomorrow?
Ruby(laughing): Oh Dad, how can the teacher know what is going to happen tomorrow?
Me: Well, I mean are you going to have music again, or something else?
Ruby (still laughing): You have to wait for the teacher to think of what to do first, silly!
Me: Did you play on the playground?
Ruby: Yes.
Me: Did you wear you coat?
Ruby: No, Dad! It wasn’t even raining!
Me: Okay, well what did you play?
Ruby: Oh, you know, swings, climbed around, slide, pirates, you know.
Me: Pirates? That sounds fun. Who did you play pirates with?
Ruby: Oh, one of those kids.
So there you have it. School from the perspective of a four year old. Hopefully day two goes as well as day one, and hopefully, by the end of the year, she will know at least one other kid’s name. You know, besides Ben.