KINDERGARTEN

A great many of you have kids that started kindergarten this week. Let me just say that we did it 4 times and it was always hard to kiss the little squirts farewell. But we lived through it, although the first child did have some, shall we say, incidents. The fault was not hers in any way, it was once again that dastardly mother.

Kindergarten had been going along without a hitch. Kelsey loved her teacher, the kids, walking to school, in short, she loved it all. September flew by and before we knew it we were in October and planning for Halloween.

I had planned to dress the girls up as M&M's . . . you know, the candy. Kelsey would be red, Addison green and baby Shae was yellow. I finished sewing their costumes and they fit perfectly. WOW! Those Roderick girls were gonna be so cute on the trick or treating trail.

But first, there would be the kindergarten party to attend. Now when I was growing up we would dress up for school in our costumes so that all our friends could see each other. Made total sense to me.

So on Halloween morning, I got Kelsey all decked out in the red M&M costume. She was darling. I gave her a kiss at the door and off to school she went with the neighborhood kids.

When I picked her up I noticed that the kids did not have costumes on. I thought this a bit odd, but then I chalked it up to a change of clothes. Kelsey talked about the party all the way from school. Finally, I was able to ask her about the other kids costumes. She boldly said "No one else wore their costume." I began to panic. What had I done to this poor child's self esteem? I have ruined her fragile little psyche. She is going to be in therapy for years.

"I am so sorry Kelsey. I thought everyone would dress up for the holiday. How did the kids feel about your costume. Did they tease you?" I said.

She looked at me with this huge grin and replied "No, they LOVED me".