Candy

飴 / candy by yomi955.

I emailed my friend Joe to see if he had any advice about sending Alleke to the preschool where he sent his daughter last year. He wrote back later in the day. I read April the email while we were sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea, and Alleke was sitting in her high chair making shapes out of a lump of clay.

The last lines I read from Joe's email said, "Also, be resigned to the fact that the teachers are going to feed Alleke candy from time to time."

Alleke looked up from her lump of clay.

"Daddy," she asked, "what did you say about candy?"

I smiled. "Joe said sometimes the teachers at your school will give you candy."

Alleke clapped her hands. "How fun!" she said.

While I am thrilled that Alleke is looking forward to starting school in a little over a week, I wonder if she has the whole picture considering what she knows about her preschool is the following:

a) teachers will feed her candy

b) the school is one big playground, since she's never seen a classroom, only the colorful playground in the courtyard

c) the students play games all day, since sometimes the teachers bring the kids outside the school to play games during the day, and we see them when we walk by on our way to run errands.

Ignorance is bliss, and perhaps best. I can only hope that Alleke's enthusiasm about school, as romanticized as it may be, will help her make it through the first days when she discovers that the other kids don't understand her when she speaks English.