Today was Olivia’s first day of kindergarten. She was given a welcome bag with goodies in it and a first assignment that needed to be completed and handed in by the end of the week.
Included in the bag was a ten inch square piece of cotton fabric with instructions to “draw a picture of yourself with a permanent fabric pen”, for a quilt that is going to be put together and auctioned at the yearly fundraiser this holiday season.
Olivia sat down at the kitchen table and immediately started working on her project. I watched her draw horizontal lines and wondered what kind of portrait she was intending. The perpendicular lines made it even more curious. I caught myself wanting to suggest a few things she could do with her project but decided to hold back.
I took a long sip of coffee and diverted my attention to her younger brother for several minutes.
When I looked back at Olivia diligently working the pen over the fabric I saw little faces appear, with smiles and hairdos, and the name of each family member printed in each square. I was happy to see that one square had “Grandmamma” in it and she even remembered to put my bangs on my hair do.
It amazes me what goes through little minds when they first enter the school process and get homework. For a parent…or a grandparent…the first impulse is to tell the child how you would go about the project, making clever suggestions or elaborate detailed plans when in fact, the little kids are actually quite capable of completing the project all by themselves.
Olivia already finished the first assignment of her first day at school.
I think I’ll go to the fundraiser and place a few bids.
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