
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 3, 1995                   TAG: 9509050007
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ANN LAING
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NOTHING MATCHES COURAGE OF A KINDERGARTNER

The big yellow bus swings onto the parking lot, rolls across the newly surfaced blacktop and comes to a stop. The doors wheeze open and there, standing at the top of the bus steps, is one of the bravest of all creatures - a kindergartner on the first day of school.

Sporting a new Lion King backpack and matching lunch box, spanking clean tennis shoes, an outfit carefully chosen several days earlier, and an uncertain smile, she waits for the signal to step down and begin one of the biggest adventures of her life. I reach out my hand, and she takes the first giant step, her legs almost too short to navigate the distance.

I am struck anew by the raw courage it takes to leave the familiarity of home and come to school, encountering on all sides new and strange people and situations. Theirs is the ultimate trust. They believe their parents' assurance that all will go well. They trust that the bus driver, whom they may never have seen before, knows the way to school and will get them there safely. They believe their teachers will be kind and good and caring. And they trust a whole realm of other people: the crossing guard, the cafeteria lady, the school secretary, the other kids. The school is huge and unfamiliar, with long halls and lots of doors; yet, for the most part, they bravely sally forth, confident that all will be well.

I recall the day, more years ago than I care to remember, when I drove my first child to school. As I opened the car door to get out, she turned to me and said, "You're not going to walk in with me, are you?'' Her tone of voice made it clear that I was not needed. "Uh, of course not," I answered, closing the door. She opened her door and swung out. "Good-bye," she said and headed up the steps. There was a long series of steps up to her school, and she marched determinedly ahead; but by the time she reached the top, I could not see her through my tears. She was one brave little girl.

But sometimes even the most courageous of us may need a little security. This same brave little girl went to college a few years ago. I helped her pack her room and put her old ragged teddy bear in a box. "Oh, leave Teds here," she said. "I won't need him." So Teds went back on her bed, and if an eyeless, plushless, indiscriminate lump can feel lonely, I'm sure he did, for he had never slept a night without her. A week later, there was a phone call. "Send Teds," my daughter said, and I did. Sometimes there's nothing like an old friend to help you get through a tough spot.

If you are a parent, an educator, a bus driver or one of the many other people these brave young children come in contact with during their first weeks of school, accept their trust as a sacred thing. Reach out a hand if they need help taking their first steps and become a new friend. It's the start of a long journey.

Ann Laing is a teacher and librarian at Spiller Primary School in Wytheville.

by CNB