I Want to go to School

 

A big girl of four and a young boy of two

were walking with their mum and dad through the zoo.

To see all the animals made both children smile

but it also made them tired so they stopped for a while.

 

They snacked on some treats that mum made before

when dad pointed out something that he saw:

a group of fish swimming around in a pool.

“Did you know,” the dad said, “that they call that a school.”

 

“I’ll go to school soon,” said little Miss Four.

“Me too,” said the boy – it was hard to ignore.

It was clear to the parents that their little boy

would miss his big sister. It gave them no joy.

 

And so they decided, that they must set things straight

before it got out of hand, before it was too late.

“Not yet,” said the dad. “It’s just not your turn,

you’re not old enough to go to school and learn.”

 

“The boy started crying, he just didn’t get

that he wasn’t quite ready to go to school yet.

He was a ‘big boy’, a baby no more –

why couldn’t he go to school with Miss Four?

 

“It’s ok, son,” said the mum. “Dry your tears,

you won’t go to school for a couple more years.

There’s a number of things you must learn before

you can go to school with little Miss Four.”

 

“That’s right,” said the dad. “I can think of some.

Like, you must no longer wear a nappy on your bum.

And while you know your whole alphabet

There are other things that you need to learn yet.”

 

“Just think,” added mum, “about how well you count

but you only know up to a certain amount.

You can do up to ten but little Miss Four

can count to 100 and sometimes even more.”

 

The tears had dried up, a change had occurred.

The young boy was now hanging on every word.

“And plus,” said the mum, “it isn’t all bad,

you’ll get to stay with me without Miss Four and Dad.”

 

“Just think of all of the games that we’ll play

and the fun things we’ll do when it’s just us all day.

We’ll get to bake cookies and sing songs and draw,

then we’ll walk up to the school to pick up Miss Four.”

 

“Ok,” said the boy and he started to grin

but Miss Four had been listening and she wanted in.

“That’s not fair,” she said. “I want to stay home.”

Then Mum and Dad let out a collective groan.

It didn’t seem like they could win either way

and so they left this fight for another day.

Ron Barton