The Year Of “AND”
Every year, for the past eleven years, I have held fast and tight to just one family tradition. Includes me making:
First-Day-Of-School Crowns for my kids. The front of the crown displays the grade number and the back of the crown holds a special note to each child with a unique message and a naming of the family theme for the school year.
Number-shaped chocolate chip pancakes to correspond with their grade.
One tradition. That’s where my commitment to consistency begins and ends. Holidays look a little different every year. Birthdays are a moving target. But, the beginning of the school year holds a special place in my heart; a reverence that motivates me to return to these traditions year after year.
Maybe it’s because I come to this time with mixed emotions. I’m ready for my kids to start something new: more consistent interactions with other caring adults, new friends, fresh supplies, more variety at lunch. And yet, it’s bittersweet, leaving the old: summer sleep schedules, unscheduled time, salami-and-pretzel sandwiches almost every day for lunch. For my kids, they express excitement of new possibilities, sadness for last year’s teachers, and worry of the unknown (will I find my classroom, will my links work, will I have someone to sit with at lunch, etc.).
Marking the next phase with a tradition carries us through the big feelings of this time because the sameness of a tradition structures safety. Traditions deepen my family’s life together. It is one constant in a life of change and uncertainty.
Celebrating this rite of passage with special food and simple adornment of a handmade crown draws us closer and helps us pause in gratitude for what has been and what is to come.
2020-2021 School Year Theme:
“The Year of AND”
To mark the start of the year, I’ll share a letter to my children (and yours).
Dear children,
Tonight, you wished for things to go back to normal. I want to promise it will, but that isn’t a promise I can be sure to keep. So let’s sit with what could be. As your intelligence grows, pause and remember a simple word from kindergarten: AND. Let’s create a life that doesn’t believe in “either/or.”
“This is hard AND we’re finding our way.”
“The teacher is strict AND caring.”
“You will meet new students AND see old friends.”
“Learning is fun AND challenging.”
AND tells a bigger story, a clearer truth, and gives hope.
Blessing and safety this school year.