I shouldn’t say that my child won’t ever go on a field trip. Because this is an exaggeration. But I will be honest in saying I wasn’t prepared for the apprehensions I felt upon receiving an invite for my daughter to attend a field trip to the Science Center with her preschool.
She is 3 years old. Of course in my mind I know the days are coming when I dress her up in her first day of school clothes and tearfully wave good bye to her as she boards the school bus to kindergarten. That however, is eons away from now ( or so I tell myself). In current circumstances my daughter experiences everything with me there at her side. All of her dance classes, her trips to the zoo, Kennywood, and play dates with her friends we were in it together. I have not once experienced the feeling of allowing her to go to an event or activity without my supervision.
We all can agree with the current events happening here and around the globe, it is a scary place to be raising children. Don’t get me wrong she attends preschool and has had babysitters. But yet I just couldn’t shake this unnerving feeling. Continuously, I thought about my small little girl getting on a school bus with 20 other kids, trekking all the way down town, to the large, uncontrolled environment of the Science Center, without me there to keep her safe.
Further fueling my hesitation is the simple fact that my daughter is growing up and I have to begin to come to terms with it. It’s a mom thing I know. When I asked my husband about letting her go, he laughed and said of course without any hesitation, “why would you not?” . In my mind I was thinking…well…
- What if her friends don’t go, or her familiar teachers, will she be scared with no familiar faces?
- What if she is sad and confused as to why she is going somewhere and I am not coming with her?
- Is 3 too little to be going on a field trip without me?
- What if she wanders off and gets lost at the Science Center?
- What if she falls and gets hurt and I am not there?!
As all patient and understanding husbands do, mine reassured me that we know and trust her teachers and can feel confident they would take good care of her. Which is true. It really brought me to place where I realized that this was a growth opportunity for me as a parent. I now have to learn how to accept my child’s burgeoning independence and support her to make the right decisions and stay safe. As time goes on it won’t just be a day field trip, it will be all day kindergarten, and sleep away camp, then college. All of the fond memories I have from growing up remind me that I want my children to go out and jump on opportunities to learn and see new things. So yes my daughter went on her field trip. And her beaming grin could not be contained as she stood in line with her friends to board the big yellow school bus, her excitement bursting at the seams. She listened to her teachers instructions and boarded the bus, without even a second glance back at me. Which of course made my mom heart weep a little, but also gave me a little sense of pride. My little girl was ready for her first journey out on her own.
