Baan Dek

A Quick and Warm Goodbye

FAQ

The seasons have started to change. Back-to-school, the real Most Wonderful Time of the Year. There’s so much anticipation and joy and newness.

For many of us, there will be a bit of a change to the schedule from summer. Even if every day of the past 12 weeks has been filled with camp and activities, the school routine is a bit different, maybe fewer long weekends, or early pick-ups, more to remember, more to do.

Maybe this is the first time since May you’ve been on a schedule. Maybe it’s the first time going to school! Regardless, the first few days and weeks can be invigorating, wonderful, and sometimes a bit tearful.

We encourage families to give “a quick and warm goodbye” at drop off. Love you! See you later! One hug and I’ll walk you to the door!

Why is that? It’s so hard to watch your heart walk away! They don’t need me?? They need me!! It’s really hard work to say goodbye, and often one party is left a bit heartbroken.

Let’s imagine. Remember your own childhood? Remember that band-aid, or that tooth, jumping in the pool, whatever it was that built up anxiety? Don’t pull it! It’s gonna hurt! I can’t! It’s fine like this. Our fear holds us back. And so much of the time, the fear is disproportionately worse than the reality. Once the band-aid came off, or the tooth fell out, or you bobbed back up to the surface, the real joy, the real adventure began. A cool scar and a story (or nothing at all, huh!), a tooth to put under your pillow and a new hole to show off, the captain of the diving board.

“Even when you love the life you’re going to, that goodbye is hard, and does one more hug make it better?”

A quick and warm goodbye is that band-aid. Have you ever said goodbye to a loved one before a big trip? Perhaps before college, or a friend moving away, or at the end of a holiday? Even when you love the life you’re going to, that goodbye is hard, and does one more hug make it better? What we want is to stop time, and to take away that lump, and the only thing that does that, is the jump — into the welcoming arms of new friends, a community ready to welcome you.

It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be nervous and worried. We jump anyway.

Written by:

Charlotte Snyder

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