Exploring Memories of First Grade

Text: Exploring Memories of First Grade; Photo: Young white boy on monkey bars

“How was school today?” I asked my older son as we sat at the dinner table. He just looked at me. Trying a different tactic, I reframed the question, “What was the funniest thing that happened at school?” He just shrugged. Well, then.

While I’m always interested in what’s going on with my kids, this year is particularly intriguing to me. First grade is the first year that I have a lot of clear memories of my own childhood.

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What Frozen II Taught Me About Coping

Text: What Frozen II Taught Me About Coping as a Parent Photo: Screenshot of YouTube video of Frozen song with snowflake

“Just do the next right thing,” Anna sobs as she pulls herself up rock by rock towards the entrance of the cave she’s stuck in. Watching Frozen II on the big screen, I was too enthralled by her crisis to think about how her song related to me. But later, when I was re-listening to the song with my kids, the power of that message hit me. I choked up a bit as I watched the bouncing ball bop atop the words on the sing-along YouTube video.

I too have sat on the floor and cried “I don’t know what to do.” I too have stared miserably in the distance, incapacitated by the seeming lack of a path forward.

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Doing Hard Things Together as a Family

Photo: Large space-ship looking object hanging from the ceiling in a darkened room; Text: Doing Hard Things Together as a Family

“Noooooo,” my older son yelped as we got near the front of the ride, backing away.

My first reaction was annoyance. I thought, “We’ve talked about this for weeks, if not months, and you’re going to back out now?” We were about to get on Space Mountain at Disneyland, my favorite roller coaster in the world. Riding on the one at Magic Kingdom when I was in third grade captured my imagination and sparked an unexpected love of thrill rides. My son – who loves roller coasters – had been desperately looking forward to it. Or at least he had until right then.

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