Cape Town - It is with trepidation that I look forward to January 11. My son, Kai, will take his first steps in his new brown school shoes when he starts his academic journey in Grade 1.
Knowing him, he is likely to scuff those shoes and stain his crisp white shirt on the first day. No more superhero T-shirts, no more sandals. I can already hear the complaints about uncomfortable shoes, and the exasperating “Why must I wear this?” questions.
I don’t know if he is aware of what lies ahead. For him, right now, life is about Lego, Batman, Avengers, Star Wars and his best friend, Jayden. It will soon become about numbers, words and homework.
Kai has a peculiar vocabulary and the “gots” will have to change to the “haves”, and the “froms” to “ofs”. Hopefully, his teacher will have better luck than I did.
He is loud, confident and determined but sometimes his swagger can land him in trouble. He has been labelled as disruptive and has a penchant for changing the narrative of stories to fit in with whatever exciting adventure is percolating in his brain.
He is excited to go to “big school”, though the source of his enthusiasm is the arrival of his partner in crime, Jayden. They have superhero (maybe villainous) ideas of how they will take over their school, and I don’t think the teachers will be best-pleased with their plans for world domination.
In fact, my wife Venecia and I and Jayden’s parents have discussed asking the school to place them in different classes.
As is the case with most kids at this stage, Kai's aspirations change regularly. His dreams of becoming a superhero with powers, or a Jedi like Luke Skywalker, have been dashed after a difficult and long-winded explanation. The question I dread most in company is “what do you want to be when you grow up?” His answers fluctuate between astronaut, doctor, a gamer, “nothing” and “someone who works with a lightsabre”. Insert eye-covering monkey face emoji here.
I believe adjusting to the workload and homework will be the biggest challenge for him, but here’s hoping he can be a superhero when it comes to his school work.
* Wesley April is Weekend Argus news editor