Five is a tough age. Who knew (or remembers) how many things there are to worry about? In addition to the typical, irrational bogeyman fears, there are the new worries associated with school.
Watching and listening to AJ, I've figured out his top four fear factors:
*The principal's office. Never mind that AJ has met Mr. Harker on numerous occasions and has always found him to be quite friendly. The fear of the unknown is a powerful deterent.
*Missing the bus. The bus was a few minutes early on Friday. As it came down the street, AJ was prepared to run out the door without jacket or shoes. (He hasn't yet figured out it takes the bus a minute or so to stop at the neighbor's house first, then round the cul-de-sac to reach our driveway.)
*Yellow and red. The teacher uses a color grading system to let us know how our child behaved. Green is good. Yellow means slow down and think about your actions. Red means stop what you're doing.
*Forgetting a library book. His class goes every Tuesday and each child is allowed to check out one book. That book must be returned the following Tuesday. If it's not, the child can't check out another book. And that's simply a fate worse than death. Almost daily AJ asks how many more days until Tuesday. I help him count it out, after which he reminds me how many days until he has to bring back his book.
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