Our son Luke is almost two and half years old. At the time of writing this article, he’s just about ready to go to class for the first time. The first half of this article is written on the morning of his first day, and the second half at the end of the day.BG

Our nice little fellow starts school today! It is a special day for him, even if things are going to be strange and new to him for a while.

As a father, I am deeply concerned about how he will get along at school without me. Like every parent, I’m anxious for him to get on perfectly well without our help and guidance.

In the past, we have always been there to repair his wounds and soothe his feelings. But now things are going to be different. He will leave us and start on his great adventure, which will certainly include occasional conflict and loneliness.

To live his life in this world, he has to meet children from different family backgrounds and he has to make his own judgments about the difficult situations he will face.

To be honest, I haven’t the faintest idea how he will manage to be successful in the classroom. To be clear, I have confidence in his ability to do well. But the thought of leaving our son in a totally new environment worries me to no end. It is incredibly hard not to have my son under my protection!

Even so, I know it’s a necessary step for his emotional growth. I need to be sensible and accept that he will eventually live out of our shadow. Whether I’m ready or not, that day is now!

So it’s with complex feelings that we start this great adventure together.

I accompanied Luke to his first class. He began with mixed feelings, half-excited and half-worried. I needed to constantly direct his attention to the teacher and to ask him to follow her directions, which were meaningless to Luke.

Up to now, he has been king of the roost so it’s hard for him to play by anyone’s rules other than his own!

However, I was happy to see that he showed great curiosity about the music in class. His emotions soared along with the music.

And he was eager to imitate the other kids’ classroom behavior -- bobbing around the chairs, standing in line and even putting on slippers for the bathroom.

It seems to me that he already felt that he belonged to this place, that he wanted to be with these kids and that he was willing to play with them.

Being with dad and mom is fun but being with these kids is a whole new kind of pleasure for our son.

His courage to join the other kids and his curiosity to learn comes as a tremendous relief. I know he is in the right place with the right people. Good luck, Luke we’re so proud of you!