Getting ready for first day of preschool

Ann, left, and Ellen help mom scour through online shopping sites for the perfect backpack for preschool, while youngest Lauren also wants to take a peek. / Courtesy of Jane Han

By Jane Han

I have had nothing to do with back-to-school for the past 13 years, ever since I graduated from college back in 2004.

This year, I have a lot to do with it.

My twin girls will be going to preschool for the first time here in the U.S. and it feels like a bigger deal than it was for me going off to college.

I admit I’m sounding a lot like one of those obnoxious helicopter moms, but the mere thought of my little ones ― who only speak and understand Korean ― standing with a deer-in-the-headlights look on their faces in a room full of people speaking English makes my heart ache.

What if Ann has a bad stomachache like she often does? What if another kid pushes one of them and they can’t speak up for themselves? What if, what if and more what ifs.

I know children in general pick up language super fast at this young age, so theoretically I know there isn’t much to worry about.

At least that’s what I’ve been telling other mom friends even before my own girls went off to school. It was easy for me to say then, but oh how little did I know.

When you’re the very mom in this position, it’s hard to “just relax.”

In the remaining week left till school, I’ll be teaching the girls some emergency words and phrases as much as I can, so we’ll see how much luck I have with that.

As for the actual school prep, I really need to get things, such as backpacks, water bottles and nap mats, purchased, labeled and ready to go for the first day of school. But I’m still stuck.

I only just got done dissecting and analyzing the list of things to buy.

English, to me, has always been a pretty straightforward language ― until I got “The List” from school.

The first thing on that short list was “a full-sized backpack to fit lunch, change of clothes and a stuffed animal or blanket for nap time.”

A quick glance doesn’t trigger any questions.

But when you read carefully and start thinking through, questions start piling on.

What exactly is a full-sized backpack? Fit lunch? How should they carry their lunch? Should it be in a lunch box that should go in a separate lunch bag before going in the full-sized backpack? They need to carry their change of clothes in the backpack back and forth from school every time? Big enough for a blanket?

Wow, is this bag going to be taller than my three-year-old or what.

I ended up reaching out to the school director to get my questions answered.

It turns out, the backpack doesn’t have to be huge, but pretty sizeable and big enough to fit a standard-sized folder for school paperwork.

I concluded that going a little bigger is better as experienced moms have been telling me that getting a slightly big one will last the kids longer, at least for a few years until they start elementary school when they’ll begin wanting to pick their own backpacks anyway.

I started looking at some popular sacks and no wonder moms gave me that advice.

A $50 backpack for a preschooler? Which makes it $100 for me since I need to buy two.

Seriously, kids stuff are a bit of a rip-off.

Today I went looking for a sturdy, insulated water bottle and the price on that was $25.

Considering my kids lose a water bottle once a month, I decided to pass on the high-end stuff.

In the middle of all this prep work, Meet the Teacher Day is tomorrow.

I wonder how the girls will react when they go face-to-face with the teacher for the first time, after all those days of me talking about this teacher figure who will do all these great things.

Honestly, I don’t know who’s more anxious, the girls or me, ahead of the first day of school.

Not to underestimate my daughters, but I don’t think Ellen and Ann are giving that day much thought.

So yes, it’s me. The rookie mom sending her kids off to school for the first time.

I really don’t want to be that mom crying in the car at the school parking lot, but we’ll see how successfully that goes.

At least I’ll have baby Lauren there with me. She’ll hold my hand.