Parents celebrate, lament start of kids' schooling
Photos by LOREN BENOIT/Press Kindergartner Elliette Shupe, 5, hugs her father, John, while spending a few minutes together before the first day of school begins Tuesday at Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities.
Teacher Geralyn Bryak shares a story with her kindergarten class during the first day of school at Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities on Tuesday.
Parents followed their children into Geralyn Bryak’s classroom, their arms full of tissue boxes, school supplies and sometimes younger siblings.
They hugged their kindergartners tight. They blew them kisses and waited for a thumbs up, but still lingered long enough to know their little ones were seated at the right tables.
"I cry every time," said Heidi Hunt, whose son, Samuel, started kindergarten Tuesday at Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities.
"You raise them and they’re 100 percent under your control and then you start the process of letting them go, which is the role of parenting, right?" she said. "You raise them and then let them go."
This was the third time Hunt experienced the first day of kindergarten, and with another child younger than Samuel, she'll be doing it again in a few years.
But letting go isn't so easy, especially for first-time kindergarten parents like Astra Underdown, whose daughter, Bashlyn, had a tough time letting Mom leave Ms. Bryak's classroom.
“It’s scary,” Underdown said, wiping tears from her eyes when she was finally able to slip into the hallway. "I was totally fine until she started getting upset."
Underdown said the hardest part of the morning is “walking out of that classroom, knowing that, ‘Whoa, you started school, life is never going to be the same.’
"She just turned 5, so it’s full of like, ‘Oh my gosh, should I have put her in, or should I have waited until next year?’” Underdown said.
Parents across North Idaho simultaneously lamented and celebrated their children's first day of kindergarten, the moment when many take that first step toward a lifetime of learning.
"It gives them a good perspective of what the rest of school will be like,” Hunt said.
Crystal Emry delivered her daughter, Natalie, to kindergarten at Sorensen, one of two schools in the Coeur d'Alene School District piloting all-day kindergarten this school year.
“She’s my fourth kid,” Emry said. "I’m sad and excited that all my kids are in full-day school."
Natalie said she didn't have any trouble sleeping the night before the big day, and she was feeling "scared but excited" to start kindergarten and make new friends.
Stephen Smith kissed his daughter, Mercy, and told her he loved her as he made his way out of Bryak's classroom. He said Mercy has been really excited, “completely obsessed with being a kindergartner. Now, she’s obviously nervous," he said.
He has technically done the first day of kindergarten twice before, when his now fourth-grade twins made the leap a few years ago.
"All the clichés are true,” he said, glancing over at his daughter, smiling. "They grow up so quick. You have to hold onto every day because it goes so fast. It’s joyful though."
As the parents gave their final hugs and wiped away more tears, Bryak began to get to know her new class.
“You’re probably wondering a lot of things right now," she said to her new students. "Anybody wondering something while they’re sitting here?”
Bryak fielded some questions, including if any ice cream would be had that day, and gave them instructions that they'll carry with them for life — be a good friend if someone gets hurt on the playground, don't sit uncomfortably close to your neighbor, try not to distract your peers, be a good listener.
Those who were struggling with separating from their parents seemed to be soothed by Bryak's cheerful voice and the redness around their eyes began to fade as she prepared to give them the lowdown on what kindergarten is all about.
"I know the children are afraid and in shock, and I always tell them I'm a little afraid too," said Bryak, who has been teaching for 30 years, 20 of them in kindergarten and three at Sorensen.
"I am so in awe of parents to allow me that privilege of teaching their child. That’s what I always think, 'What a privilege of those parents to allow me to do that,'" she said. "These little children in my care, I am so in awe of them too that they are trusting to let go of their parents.
"I love this age because they're little sponges. I really enjoy doing it," she said. "It's an honor, it’s a privilege, it's a pleasure."