Just wow, our tiny little Churchill is now six years old already! That little man will start with elementary school in August, something I have never really thought much about. All the time he was just our little one who goes to kindergarten and now he is so old already. His birthday we celebrated only with the family, taking him earlier out of kindergarten so he could enjoy his special day more. We had some cake, went out for dinner with the kids and of course he got his presents. The “party” with his friends will be next Sunday as another girl in his group has her birthday on the very same day as Nathan so we wanted to split up the parties as some kids are invited to both celebrations. As you can see from the Instagram picture Nathan got a crown at kindergarten full with Minecraft characters. He really loves the game, even though he hasn’t played it untill yesterday (was a present from us for his Nintendo Switch)
So what will be ahead for him and us now? In kindergarten he has his pre-school lessons in preparation for the school time, we send him every Sunday to Mandarin lessons in another city (on hold right now as the Chinese teachers are afraid of the coronavirus) and of course his standard Taekwondo practice twice a week. Right now it is not so different for us but once he starts with school our entire schedule has to be set anew. Kindergarten and school have different starting hours (so one of us has to bring Nathan to school and afterwards Nathalie to kindergarten). However bringing little Nathan to school (by walk) will be only for the first few weeks till he feels safe and sure enough to do it on his own. Back when I went to the very same elementary school we were allowed to go by bicycle starting grade 2 however regulations changed here in Germany and they have to walk until the reach the fourth grade. Oh well, but at least he will have enough fresh air by walking each day as we won’t be those helicopter parents driving their kids to the front gate of the school. What I have to witness every day at kindergarten is already insane with all the cars blocking the streets. Seems that many parents think that their children can’t manage anything on their own anymore these days!
Why the kids grow up so fast?
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OMG, the insane traffic for morning drop-off and afternoon pick ups here! At every school. The older kids should walk if at all possible, but the elementary school in our neighborhood doesn’t have sidewalks not he streets to the south. Which means that if you want your kid to not get run over by a texting parent, you have to walk with them.
Here every street is with sidewalks and also bicycle lanes (the street we got even got 4 bicycle lanes…). Even with all this infrastructure the parents drive their kids to school even when it is just few hundred metres
Yes. They do grow up so very fast.
I’m glad you’re not helicopter parents and that the neighborhood is safe enough for him to walk to school alone. I walked to school alone when I was in first grade. My kids walked too. But the maid walked with them. That’s the way things were done in Manila. Then we moved to the US, and the oldest got a job at McDonalds and bought her own car. And before long she’d flown away to college on the other side of the country.
Here it is pretty safe, only in the city centre are some areas I wouldn’t let my kids go alone. For the school the street got pedestrian ways and several bicycle lanes so there is no worry about the traffic either
Happy birthday, Nathan!! Time does fly!! Six years passed by so fast! We are old, hahaha.
It’s great that 6 years old children can walk alone to school there. Here or in Spain I think I would only allow my son to walk to school alone from 8-9 years old.
Here the kids can go to kindergarten / leave alone once they are six and the parents allow it. It is also pretty safe here also when looking at the infrastructure (pedestrian ways and bicycle lanes)
Very cool. Yes, kids grow up quickly. I don’t have kids of my own, but every time I see my friends’ toddlers (so every couple of months), I am shocked to see how much they changed, i.e., grew up.
So, will you or your wife at least be “Tiger Mom or Dad”? 😁
Probably my wife will be a tiger mom, she has it in her genes 😅
Kids really grow up quick and then you realize how old you are getting yourself
My little boy starts “reception” (much like kindergarten) this year. He will be 4. School starts so early in the UK. Now we will have to figure out our entire lives anew around the school schedule…
Yeah I am also not looking forward to the time after summer with being bound to a school schedule. I calculated that I will be nearly 50 (earliest) when holidays can be planned outside the school holidays again 😰