Member-only story
I Led a Kindergarten Rebellion
The teacher should have never left the room
I did not think of it as a rebellion. To me, it was an adventure. When you are only five, though, rebellion and adventure can overlap.
Starting school was tough
My parents had just moved their five kids from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, to Newton Centre, Massachusetts. I didn't attend preschool in Pennsylvania, so kindergarten in Newton Centre was my first real social and academic experience.
On the first day of school, I locked my mom out of the car in a dramatic effort to avoid kindergarten. In the days of manual locks, she’d head for one door, and I’d beat her to it, slamming the lock down. She’d head for another door, and I’d beat her to that, too. Eventually, she outmaneuvered me, yanked me out of the car, and dragged me by the fully outstretched arm across the parking lot and down the hall all the way to class. She dropped me off with the teacher, turned on her heel, and headed back home to take care of my younger brother.
The rest of the day must have gone all right, though, because I remember skipping to school all year long, kicking autumn leaves, making winter snowballs, and picking spring flowers. My two older sisters and older brother made sure to drop me at my classroom door each day.
