Being Prepared

I am always trying to think ahead and see the next day through Josie's eyes, so I can help her prepare with anything that might be difficult. For example, "There is a fire truck coming to your school tomorrow, but there's no fire. You are going to learn about what firefighters do."

Not that you can anticipate everything, but it helps tremendously. Well a few days ago, I had a nice reminder about making assumptions. Josie's class was taking a bus on a field trip to the high school. I told her she would see older kids, and they were ok to talk to. She would have a different schedule, eat lunch later, etc. I told her the bus might not have seatbelts, a potential big issue. Then I thought, "Should I say something about choosing seats on the bus?" No way would the teacher have first graders choose their own seat mates, I thought.

Wrong. And sure enough I got a note home that Josie had two "challenges" that day - both related to choosing seats on the bus.

So you can't think of everything, but next time I do think of something, I won't assume it couldn't be!