The School Bell.

It's Wednesday 12th September and I'm on my way to pick up The Bear from school. He started school just last week and is very excited about his new school. He likes his school uniform and his school bag and books and p.e. kit. Today will be the second time that I have collected him from school. I have had to take half a day off from work to be able to pick him up. I took him to school for the first time last week on Thursday. For the first 2 weeks he is attending only half days in order for him to become accustomed to the new environment of actual schooling. At first I found this to be bizarre as I was of the opinion that if he is going to school then he should just go to school and get on with it from day one but my opinion quickly changed after the walk to school with him on that first day.




The Bear was attending his new school in the afternoon for the second half of the day so the school was already open and populated with the other full time pupils. The Bear and I were talking on the way and as we approached the school I heard the school bell sound, signifying the end of or beginning of some part of the daily school schedule. It was at this point that a wave of sadness came over me as the significance of the moment dawned upon me. Right then at that time, the sound of the school bell was not only marking the end of lunch break or classes but in that moment the school bell marked the end of real childhood and the beginning of a journey towards adulthood. Yes, I know The Bear is only 4 but a chapter in his life has come to an end and a new chapter has begun. The new chapter is filled with timetables and schedules, responsibilities and consequences. Some amount of childhood innocence has been left behind and replaced with the burden of learning. The proverbial apple has been thrust into his hand and he has tasted it's bittersweet juice and henceforth been cast out of his childhood paradise into a cold, harsh and unforgiving world of right or wrong.

Time to work.

Okay, maybe that's a little melodramatic. I am glad that The Bear does seem to be enjoying the new experience so far and I am aware that schooling has changed a lot since I first started school but I did not find school to be a pleasant experience myself. For the most part I found my own school experience to be incredibly dull and entirely lacking of any kind of stimulation. I found the teachers at school to be petty and boorish and I mostly held my classmates in similar regard. Now, I know that The Bear is not me, it is something to be grateful for that he isn't. He is very outgoing, sociable even. He can make a new friend easily, unlike myself. I am somewhat introverted and tend to have a general lack of interest in other people and their lives. The Bear is likely to have an entirely different outlook on school life than I did.

Unforgettable teachers are unforgettable
unfortunately.

I hope that he continues to enjoy school as much as he has so far but he has a long way to go yet and has merely dipped his toe in to test the water so far. I know that it is part of the journey but having traveled that journey already I am a little worried for him. He is going to have to deal with the the small people with even smaller brains but big mouths who are afraid of him because he is bigger than they are. He will not understand when they are aggressive toward him for no apparent reason. He is going to have to deal with the idiots, the bullies, the braggarts, the geeks, the show offs, the clowns, the loudmouths and freaks. The jealous girls, the insecure girls who make themselves feel better by making others feel bad, the jealous boys and then there are the teachers.
He will most likely encounter the unappreciative teacher who doesn't seem to care that he cares more about a certain subject than the rest of the class do, the teacher who just doesn't care about teaching anymore who's apathy towards the job is soon taken advantage of by the unruly children and the class rapidly descends into anarchy, the teacher who thinks that he/she is the law, the teacher who thinks they are your friend, the teacher who can't teach and worst of all the English teacher.

It's not just The Bear who started school.

All of these and many more obstacles to overcome during the course of school life.
I seem to be getting ahead of myself though. Those things are still far away in the future. The Bear starts school full time next week. It's just primary school and he is just 4 years of age. He does still have a lot of childhood left and I intend to help him make the most of it for as long as possible. And school isn't all bad, I remember some good days spent at school. There are high points as much as there are low points. You have to take the rough with the smooth and so on. One thing remains constant though, that school bell.