Kindergarten

A good friend of ours has a little girl who has just finished kindergarten.  She is snaggled toothed, smiley, a reader, and cute as a button.  This has been a momentous year for her, as she embraced school and all its challenges and "firsts" and adventures on her own.  And she's done great!  A win/win for her and her parents.

I remember my kindergarten years.  At age 4, I and my friends went to "morning group."  At age 5, we did "afternoon group."  This was in the days of no public kindergarten, so it was of the private variety.  I absolutely loved every minute of it!  I can still see our "room."  It was in the original Norris Community Building, a multi-purpose building of the 1930s era (I think.)  It had hardwood floors, and we had a whole fleet of tricycles inside where we could race around with no fear of hitting walls or pedestrians or anything that was dangerous or valuable.  I can envision our tables and chairs and the outdoor playgound...I can even "smell" the place...a combination of paste, clay, and tempera paint!

In 1953 and 1954, our curriculum was certainly not like today's kindergartener's.  We didn't learn to read or add and subtract.  But it was good for us socially and emotionally.  We learned to be independent, to listen, to share, to be creative.  And we learned manners, right from wrong, and appropriate behavior.

I'm sure you've read, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum.  I highly recommend the book; even a re-read if it's been a while.  It should be required reading, in my opinion, for we could use an extra dose of civility in the world in which we live.  Too often, folks are unkind, rude, too outspoken, selfish, unwilling to compromise, to see the other's person's view, to consider the other guy might just be right.  If we could learn and live this credo, its wisdom might just be about all that's necessary to live a meaningful life.

So, here goes: 

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.  Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup:  The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die.  So do we.
And then remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned --the biggest word of all--LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.  The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.  Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Here's to some good reading; 197 pages of wisdom, pure and simple.  May God convict each of us with its lessons and teach us anew to be good to one another.  Life is short, and we need to live each day to its fullest, without regret.  Carpe diem, my friends!  Long live kindergarten and its wonderful, necessary life-lessons!