For Kids, Summer Gets Left Behind For A Fresh School Year

By Kendra Bobowick

He came tumbling down the school bus steps at 2:30 Wednesday afternoon with his attention fixed on an iPod. “Hang on, I have to find the ‘pause,’” were David Kent’s first words as he returned home from the first day back to school September 1.

Waiting for her son was Katie Kent with Bella, the family’s bassett hound. Also returning home from her first day as a high school junior was Lauren Harrison, walking with a familiar sway beneath her school bags. “I like seeing my friends again. But waking up early? I didn’t like that.”

David confessed, “I was so stressed!” His friend and classmate James Leuci determined the day was a success, he said. “We’re back in the swing,” he said. “The summer went by too fast, but I was ready [for school].”

The friends felt they had more freedom in the eighth grade at the Newtown Middle School. They were returning to familiar surroundings, which helped, they said. The boys laughed when they thought of the friends they had not seen since last year. “Some were taller, older, their styles changed….”

Welcoming her son back from school, Ms Kent said, “David, you grew a lot.”

“Yeah, I did!” he said.

With the year’s goal already in mind, James said, “Good grades. I want to get into high school.” David wants better study habits. “I won’t leave things for the last minute,” he said.

Roughly an hour later, Eileen Dole bundled her 4-month-old son Brendan into a stroller to meet the bus carrying her kindergartner Kaitlin, second-grade son Riley, and third-grader Conor. Her oldest was nervous, while Kaitlin’s excitement was “oozing out,” and Riley was indifferent about the start of school the night before, she said.

Joining a group of other mothers and grandmothers at the end of her road, she said, “It’s withdrawal! Today there was no one to shush. Weird.” Ms Dole admitted that she missed her children. “I like having them with me,” she said.

Sabeena Ali saw her children off to school again this year. Ayesha went into the eleventh grade, Maryyam into eighth, and returning home momentarily at roughly 3:45 was first grader Maleeha. “My youngest? I followed her to school,” she said. Recalling that morning as she watched her daughter enter the school, she said, “She was a confident little thing.”

Kathy Coffey and Sue Gomes waited for their children, sons Rowan and Kiernan Coffey and daughter Jordan Gomes. Grandparents Maria Gomes and Dorothy Keller also found a stretch of shade where they stood with the other mothers to watch for the bus that soon brought their children home.