All I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:

• 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 in 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.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

(by Robert Fulgham)

Today was Riley's last day of kindergarten.  It is both a truly sad moment and a happy moment all in one.  I get teary eyed looking at Riley and being amazed at what a brilliant kid she is.  Kindergarten has by far been the best experience she has had in terms of maturing emotionally and actually learning a great deal.  I get sad at the thought that today it's celebrating her last day of kindergarten and before I know it, I will be crying at her high school graduation.  I am genuinely in awe at the fact that I get to call Riley, my daughter.  I pray that her love for school and learning never stray and that she will continue to ask questions, be curious and listen closely.  

Riley (and us, indirectly) really hit the jackpot with her teacher.  Mrs. Merritt had Riley pegged from day one and really went above and beyond in her job to help keep Riley interested in learning.  I know this to be true because when Riley got off the bus today, she looked sad.  She waited until she got in the house to cry.  She cried because she was so sad that she had to leave Mrs. Merritt and kindergarten and that she had the "best year ever."  I feel bad for whatever teacher she gets in 1st grade - I'm not quite sure they'll hold a candle to Mrs. Merritt.  

Riley learned an awful lot this year and what I love most is the fact the she can READ!  Amazing!!  Her writing has improved tremendously and thankfully she has her daddy's knack for math!  We're excited to see what the 1st grade will bring.  But, we'll certainly enjoy the summer first!!!

What a difference from the first day of school to the last month of school.