Kindergarten

Today is the first day for Jessica's new kindergarten class.

It will be a very busy and memorable day.

I know she has lots of wonderful activities planned.

Do you remember your first day of kindergarten?

I was excited.

I loved school.

Kyle, 1955

Ed on the other hand.

Was not happy about going.

Ed, 1955

He wanted to stay home.

Funny, once he started, he didn't stop for 23 years.

Elizabeth was excited about school.

She loved everything about it.

 Elizabeth, 1986

She kept going and going as well.
Now she's Doctor Redente.

Jessica was happy about heading off 

to Kindergarten.

Jessica, 1990

Now she goes to kindergarten every day.

Kate was ready to go.

Kate, 1990
She kept going until she got her master's degree.

I thought you might enjoy this, just as a reminder.

All I Really Need To Know
I Learned In Kindergarten

by Robert Fulghum

- an excerpt from the book, All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten


All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do
and how to be I learned in kindergarten.

Wisdom was not
at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the
sandpile at school. These are the things I learned:


Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life - learn some and think some
and draw and paint and sing and dance and play
and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic,
hold hands, and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup:
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody
really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even
the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die.
So do we.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books
and the first word you learned - the biggest
word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any of those items and extrapolate it into
sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your
family life or your work or your government or
your world and it holds true and clear and firm.

Think what a better world it would be if
all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about
three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with
our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments
had a basic policy to always put thing back where
they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you
are - when you go out into the world, it is best
to hold hands and stick together.


© Robert Fulghum, 1990.
Found in Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, Villard Books: New York, 1990, page 6-7.

Have a great day, Jessica.
Teach your little friends well.

Until Next Time-Kyle