Confident at Two

Nyssa, Age 2

"A child is confident. He has not learned all of the reasons why a thing cannot be done. He ignores obstacles because he does not know they exist." ~ Wilferd A. Peterson

I could see the confident glint in Nyssa's eyes even at age two. She never went through that separation anxiety phase; perhaps it was because she had a wonderful sitter in a home with two little boys her age. Instead of going to daycare each morning, she simply went to her second family; to play with her brothers. Nyssa was the 18 month old who cried when she had to get OFF Santa's lap at the mall. She loved formal daycare when we moved to Mississippi. Who wouldn't love being one of two little girls in a pre-school class of twelve!

Then kindergarten came around. The first day, parents were parking and walking their children up the sidewalk, under the overhead awning and into the "blue" building. Here they delivered their children to the waiting teachers. There was clinging and crying and the tears were from both parent and child. My plan was to park and walk Nyssa in. Afterall, she had never been inside the school before and had not met her teacher. Besides, this was one of the parental rites of passage, it was an accepted part of life; it was my God-given right to walk my child into kindergarten!

Nyssa had other ideas. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Why don't I park and walk you in to school today?
Nyssa: No, you don't have to.
Me: I'd like to, it's not a problem. See the other parents are walking their children. (As a little boy, wailing and clutching his mom's hand crosses the parking lot)
Nyssa: I can walk in by myself. It's OK. I'll be fine.
Me: But Nyssa, you've never been here before and you don't even know where your class is. It's a big place with a lot of rooms.
Nyssa: I know the teacher's name. I can always ask someone.
Me: Are you sure? (sadly watching her open the car door and hop out)
Nyssa: Yep! Bye mom! See you later!

OK, I have a confident child, so sue me.

Submission for LensDay topic "confident". (end of post)