It's that time of year again. The end of the school year is prime time for change in a child care center. Children who will be entering kindergarten in another school district leave for their new child care centers. Children who were coming part time in order to wrap around the church's nursery school are leaving for their primary child care. Children who are aging out leave to stay home. Whatever the reason, many children are leaving and we must say good-bye to them all.
A staff member who was in tears at the prospect of one of her children leaving asked me, "Do you ever get used to having children leave?" The answer is yes - and no. Since I have been in child care for nearly thirty years, I have said good-bye to a number of children. Some I have never seen again and some are Facebook friends. Some I see in Wegmans or the bank or the pizza parlor and some I catch up on when I see their parents. Some live near me and some live across the country. Some are in the local newspaper when they are on a sports team or graduate from college or get married. Some are in the local paper when they get arrested or when they die.
When I see these now grown children, as I read about them or see their parents, I picture them as they were as infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school age children. I recall some of the silly things that they said and did, how they looked when they were playing in the rain or snow, and what we were singing while they snuggled on my lap. I look at pictures of their children, find out where they work, and cry at the news that they are not doing well.
It is part of life that children grow and leave us, just as we grew and left our teachers, our caregivers, and our homes. It is normal, and to be expected for each child. But each child, no matter what they were like, how they acted, or where they went, takes a piece of my heart with them.
This made me weepy. :-(
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