The Deal with School Selection
When I was a kid, going to school was easy. You lived in a neighborhood and you went to a school you could walk to, and parents could be reasonably sure that their kids were learning what they needed to know in a safe, secure place.
That gives you an idea of how old I am. Those days are long gone. Safety and security are no longer a given, and neither is the idea that your kid is going to be in the right learning environment.
But hey - at least now, we have choices. All the kids in all the schools are tested and scores are published. If your neighborhood school isn't up to par, you have the option of going elsewhere. You can pick a magnet school, a charter school, a "school for advanced studies" - and that's just within the public system! You can also go private, or home school your kids yourself.
You would think that having all those options would put my mind at ease — but instead, it just adds new levels of pressure. It's like "Let's Make a Deal" - who's to say that the prize behind door #1 isn't better than what you got behind door #2?
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I agonized over my search for a daycare provider who could take over for me when my maternity leave ended. I searched and interviewed and combed the area for someone I could trust with my precious baby.
I ended up placing her with the very first person I had met, who was wonderful. I didn't want that situation to end.
But babies grow into toddlers and eventually, they're expected to go to preschool. Once again, I agonized over where to go. By this time, I was listening to other parents, who would tell me how different preschools fed into different private schools — and why I should care. Once again, she got placed with the first school we'd evaluated and once again, it was perfect.
Two years later, it was time to choose a kindergarten and selecting a school was a nerve-racking process that had me wondering if the decision I'd made was going to ruin her young life. After her elementary school experience turned out to be wonderful, I realized that each time we went through this process, all my worries had been silly. Whether it was good luck or good instinct, each situation has been exactly the right one for my girl.
I vowed that when she started middle school, I wouldn't sweat the process.
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