Dear Mr and Mrs

My son came running into our kitchen after school with an envelope in his hand. It was addressed to Mr and Mrs Sierra. He had a big grin so I couldn't wait to open it.

Inside was a handwritten note on notepaper with a big apple emblazoned on it. I was quite excited and had begun to think in my mind how it was going to tell me how wonderful he was doing in his new school and to reassure me of my decision to move him to this new preschool.

I began reading,

"I wanted to let you know that Alex had a hard time today at school. I had to speak with him repeatedly about hitting his friends and I explained that we do not do that and that it makes our friends sad. If you have any other questions please let me know. I will be in tomorrow morning and afternoon."

What?? This must be the wrong note. It was supposed to read,

"I wanted to let you know that Alex is adjusting wonderfully. He is a joy to have in class and is making new friends. You have nothing to worry about and he is just as happy as he was at his other school. Bravo for being such a wonderful mother."

I explained to him that we agree with his teacher and hitting friends will make them sad and cry. He assured me that no one cried when he hit them. This wasn't going well.

I know change is hard, and maybe I underestimated what it was going to be like for him to be removed from the other school where he had gone since I went back to work 3 years ago. And maybe since his sister was so excited about starting kindergarten at her new school that I just assumed we could rub some of that excitement off on him and expect him to accept the change.

Or maybe this is the end of it and he will understand he did something wrong for that one day. And I guess there is a little comfort in knowing he didn't make anyone cry - I think...