Today was Daniel’s third day of preschool but his first full day (2.5 hours), so I was a little nervous about how he would do. I was even more nervous because I had to wake him up an hour earlier than usual because I needed to be at work by 7am to head to Lake Waccamaw (near Myrtle Beach) for a meeting, and that meant I needed to meet MIL for drop-off at 6:45.
MIL called me after she dropped him off at preschool, and I was cheered, briefly, to hear that he had happily gone into the classroom. Then the other shoe dropped: MIL mentioned that it looked like he was supposed to wear yellow today because all the other kids had on something yellow.
Facepalm.
On Meet-the-Teacher day, we had been given a folder full of information, including a calendar that listed what the learning objectives would be for each day. Each month the class focuses on certain colors, and once a week, the students are to wear that color. It’s clearly denoted on the calendar. Apparently, all the other mommies and daddies had studied their calendars and dressed their children appropriately. Except for Daniel, whose folder was still in my car.
I felt awful. On the one hand, he’s only 2 years old, and it’s not like he’s going to be ostracized over not wearing the color of the day. “His hair is yellow,” I wanted to argue, but the real issue was that I suddenly felt I had let down my child, and it’s only the third day of preschool. Cue working mom’s guilt.
Making matters worse, while Daniel had a pretty good day overall in preschool, something happened on the playground the last 30 minutes that caused him to cry and still be crying when they led him to MIL’s car during carpool. Somehow that felt like my fault too.
I vowed to bring in the calendar and put it on the refrigerator as soon as I got home, and I did. Funny thing, though. When I looked at the calendar, I didn’t see today noted as “Wear Yellow Day.” Instead, it looks like Thursday is “Wear Yellow Day.” Hmm. Did everyone else misread the calendar? Maybe I didn’t screw up after all.
Guilt ebbing. And by God, I’m going to find the yellowest outfit possible for Thursday.
Family Building With a Twist 
My son had a terrible day at pre-school. I’ve been beating myself up all day about it. Pre-school feels a lot to me like junior high: the long walks to the classroom, the social codes and weird cliques of moms and nannies. The teachers disapproving of me.
Let’s just say I did not miss this over the summer.
I feel the same way even though this is my son’s first year in preschool! There is one mother that rubs me the wrong way already. I’m in a weird position in which I work full-time, but my mother-in-law watches my son, so it’s sort of like he has a stay-at-home situation. It felt weird to show up at preschool in my work clothes