This series, A Letter to My Younger Self, features letters from students and parents offering advice at certain ages and grades when they could have used more perspective and insight on their journey through online education. This post, A Letter to My Younger Self, Kindergarten, was written by Tyra Lee Lujan, a graduate of Texas Virtual Academy.
Dear kindergarten me,
You are young, you are energetic, and you are truly enjoying your kindergarten year!
The stories you write about and the characters you create are a big hit with your friends. You have a passion for art such as dancing, and entertaining. For now, this makes you popular, but will be the cause of exclusion later on. Expect it, but do not let it stop you. These traits are the foundation in which you will one day build a career.
At 4 years of age, you are the youngest in your class, and have yet to lose some of the baby teeth that your friends have already lost.
You’re looking at the giant monkey bars in the playground and thinking, “Will I ever be able to reach the other side without falling?”
You’re wondering why most of the little girls in your class give you a strange look when you suggest a game of “Let’s be Super Heroes!”
You want to know why no one else seems to get scared when the fire alarm rings.
You feel a little confused as to why only you have to attend speech class, and why no one seems to understand you when you speak.
And if you haven’t yet, you will encounter an incident where a group of third-grade girls will want to harm you and leave you crying on the floor. That’s the day you will discover what the word bully truly means.
Now, it is 2014, and 18-year-old you wants to let you in on a few secrets.
You have graduated from high school, and much of what you did and experienced in kindergarten will shape and mold you. Don’t give up on the giant monkey bars. Now, they aren’t that big. Use your determination, and every day you’ll grow your muscles will grow.
Those superhero games you love to play, while other little girls are interested in boys or princesses, become the inspiration for wonderful stories.
The loud fire alarm, which makes you skip a few heart beats, won’t be so scary.
The speech class you are taking is helping you learn to enunciate. Although you will never lose that minor lisp, that makes you…you!
Just remember that you will overcome all of these experiences, and you grow and mature. You have a long way to go from kindergarten, but, for now, enjoy the little things. Time goes by so fast, so don’t waste a second.
Love,
Tyra
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