Rida goes to school (contd...)

Rida is going to school. Yeah! (well, this is a continuation as in "contd...", so what did you expect?). And Farheen and I are already into that typical parental routine...wake up early...wake her up...take her to toilet...bathe her...dress her up...talk about how wonderful schools are...prepare breakfast and get her to eat it...pack her little bag with snacks, a spare pair of clothes and water bottle...buckle her up in the car's front seat while telling her how wonderful schools are...take the bubbly child to school...drop her with one of the teachers...and she goes "waaaa waaaa pappa pappa"...walk past the gate with a heavy heart...

Her first day on Tuesday reminded me of the following Peanuts cartoon by Charles M. Schulz (dated Sept. 5, 1962):





Her inclination to cry when I leave her and when she sees me at noon are still intact, three days after her first day. But, the teacher tells me that her stay is improving. I only hope that she will, very soon, sound like Sally from the next Peanuts comic (Sept. 6, 1962). What a wonderful artistic soul that Schulz was!


To my mind, an improvement in her school going habit stems from the fact that the disturbed countenance she carried home the first day is not seen anymore.