August 16th, 2010 | Author: trancejen
So Wednesday the J-Man begins junior high at his new public school, which is approximately nine times the size of his old school.
He doesn’t seem to care much one way or the other, as long as he is properly dressed in his new skinny jeans (oh strange trend) and fresh new kicks, but I am a nervous wreck.
For one thing, he will be taking the bus. Now the bus picks up about half a block from the house, so I’m not too worried about him getting on in the morning, but I am worried about him getting on after school.
Despite my propensity for being always fifteen minutes early for everything, I have raised a diddle-daddler, a screwer-arounder, someone with absolutely no sense of time.
I predict that he will miss the after-school bus at least once per week, ensuring that my stepdad, who would be the backup driver, will most likely kill him.
I’m also nervous about the kids. These kids just seem so much more… savvy than the private school kids. They dress cooler. While decked out in less expensive duds, they look more hip. From the little I’ve seen during the open house and my few other visits, they breeze through the expansive hallways of the school as if they own the place, while I’m worried my kid is not going to remember where the hell his locker is for the first two weeks, simply because the building is huge and confusing.
And will he make friends? Will he find people he likes that like him back? Will it be hard? Will the kids be snots just because he’s new?
AGH.
I’m worked myself up into a froth over all of this, but when I ask the J-Man whether he is worried, he looks at me like I’m insane and says, “Nah.”
Maybe he will be just fine and adjust accordingly, and I’m just being a ridiculous mother hen. I strongly hope that’s the case.
In junior high, I had glasses and braces and was the tallest kid in the class by at least two or three inches. I was popular, but Lord, was I dorky-looking. I remember begging my father for Guess jeans and Reebok shoes in order to keep up with the trends, and I also remember him telling me to get a job.
What were you like in junior high?
Happy Monday.
I too was a tall, gawky, bespectacled kid wandering the halls of jr high school. I was part of the “smart” class, which made me a target by default. Adding insult to injury, my older sister was one of the burnout kids which made me seem even dorkier by comparison. My mom made the effort of dressing me in the trends of the day (picture patterned turtlenecks under pastel oxfords, and ribboned barrettes,) but it just made me more uncomfortable. I wouldn’t go back for a million bucks.
Let your boy be himself; he sounds like he’s capable of finding the crowd that suits him.
My mother passed away the first year of junior high and then I had to switch schools so I wouldn’t have known a trend if it was slapped on my body. I had the same nervousness with my own kid when he started but he’s just like your kid…doesn’t care. He’ll be fine and with that relaxed attitude he’ll make plenty of friends. You probably won’t like them
, but he will.
Ugh. I moved the summer before 7th grade. When school started, I was miserable. I cried before, during and after school. I made myself sick over it. I was lost all the time, I was lonely, and it took me a couple months to adjust.
Funny, same thing happened when I started college as well.
I just am not good with change, I don’t think.
I remember it as a “kill or be killed” environment so I developed a persona not unlike the mean girl in Welcome to the Dollhouse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLYgTloC7lg
Okay, I wasn’t quite that bad…
Sounds like the J-Man will be fine. Not caring is the first step to popularity.
I didn’t really go to junior high — my grade school went to 8th grade and then boom! High school. But in 8th grade I was bespectacled, acned, and chubby, and thus was the girl nobody liked. I hated 8th grade.
Ugh – I was a total nerd. My jr. high was all about the preppy and I actually remember having wide-wale cordoroys with something (whales?) embroidered on them. We competed to see how many pairs of pastel Dickies we could weasel out of our parents and how many Polo/I-Zod shirts we could layer with the collars popped. Then in 8th grade it all changed – Guess jeans arrived via our resident fashion plate (Julie B.) and then *BANG!* the 80’s happened. High school was so much better.
My best friend said – “velour knickers – need I say more?”
Oh dear god – Jr High was the epitomy of Hell as far as I was concerned. I weighed in at a BMI of appx 16.5 (if I was lucky) and I was sooo confused at the other guys my age that were suddenly transformed physically while I stayed the same gawky pre-pubescent dork that nobody liked. The guys were on the hunt for a girlfriend, and I was doing everything I could to just avoid being noticed because I did not understand the suuden attraction to the females in our midst. I finally found my niche in High school after I matured and realized that I like guys and not girls. Heh. I was transformed finally and threw myself into Choir/Band/Drama et al and from there on in I was quite content with life. The J-man is gonna do just great kiddo – he had you as his Mother and he knows right from wrong and I KNOW he will become one of the popular kids damn fast.
Hope you are all settling in alright at the new abode !
– John in Phoenix
I am so sorry to hear these stories, but now you are all relentlessly cool in my eyes, at least.
Dad said: “O.P. means Over Priced for Other People”.
I pretty much was the same dork I am now…but I have at least 3 more social skills.