The Secret Society of School

There is something going on at Love Monster, Smirker and Spiderman's schools. Every one of them. And I am convinced that all parents and grandparents have experienced this feeling one time or another. Equipped with their Elsa or Anna, Star Wars or Batman backpacks, we see them off at school, give them a hug, wave and tell them we will see them after school. Sometimes they look back with a smile and wave. Other times they simply turn and race to the door and are gone - inside the place that is their own for the next few hours.

There is something clandestine, hush-hush and mysterious about this place they call "school". Don't you think? I just know it because when we ask them what they did at school, the responses are eerily the same:
 
"Nothing."

or better yet -

   "I can't tell you."

Seriously, they can't tell us?

Did you color? Draw? (A blank stare.)
Did you work on you numbers? Letters? (I can almost read Love Monster's mind - "My Lips are sealed!"
Did you read? Play with your friends? (Smirker just looks at you with her patented sly grin - but says nothing)

What is going on inside this building? What do they do all day long? Most of us will simply push it aside thinking there is just so much going on that it's hard for a he/she to come up with something specific or there was nothing particular worth talking about. But maybe....just maybe, it's something else!

Sooner or later our (ok, my) mind begins to let the imagination go wild. Do they put their backpacks and coats in their cubby and enter a secret passage way for their real lessons? Have they taken an oath not tell anyone (except their friends) what really goes on at school? Are they being trained as spies? (Grambo has nothing on Secret Agents 0208 (Love Monster), 0918 (Smirker) or 1204 (Spiderman). Have they sworn secrecy to their handlers...I mean, teachers?

Maybe they are being trained as astronauts? Or Code Breakers to solve the world's hacking crimes?

When I ask Spiderman what he had for a snack, he ignores the question and asks if we can go see some freight trains. What are they feeding them instead of pretzels, carrots or other foods that kids aren't allergic too? Is it some kind of lab created goo like the astronauts get to prepare them for god knows what?

School can be a mystery sometimes. But not because of my silly musings, as far out and absurd as they might be.

Up until their introduction to formal schooling, their lives have been indelibly intertwined with their care givers. They are together all the time. Love Monster, Smirker and Spiderman (and all other kids) now have something that is their own. Something that their parents or grandparents aren't a part of for those few hours. And they choose to hold it close. They are growing up.

And that is more than Ok. But we will still ask them what they did at school. Maybe they will slip up and reveal the wonders of the day.