First Day Jitters

Yesterday was my son's first day of school, JK. All summer both of us were looking forward to it so much. He was so excited about it until....the night before. That's when the nerves set in. "What if they make me play games I don't know?" What if no one wants to play with me?" "What if I can't reach the toilet paper?" (I know who knew he had so many worries?) So we talked them all through and other scenarios that might pop up too. We read the letter from the school and packed his backpack with everything on the list. We made up his lunch and labelled it all.

In the morning we went over the letter again, reviewed what was for snack and what was for lunch. We walked to school early so that it was less intimidating when we arrived and we could get the lay of the land first. He made friends instantly and all seemed to be good...until the bell rang and then the tears started. So we re-introduced in him to the teacher, went over his backpack and food again. Talked about what the day would be like and told him he could ask the teacher to call me at lunch if the day was still horrible. I never got the phone call, in fact when I picked him up at 330 he said he had a great day. It was harder than daycare because he had to learn more and play more, but he liked it.

This whole process reminds me of preparing for a new show. I am all excited leading up to and the night before I get nervous. "Do I have everything packed?" "Do I have enough stock?" "Do I have the right products for this show?" So I do the same things as I did with my son, review the confirmation letter, review what I packed and try and get a goodnight sleep.

The day of the show I try and go early to get the lay of the land. Introduce myself to the organizer. Give myself a time that I'm allowed to leave if I want (if this is possible with this kind of show).

The morale of the story is whether it's the first day of school or preparing for a show, preparation is key, but most important is to make sure you've packed some good snacks!