It never ceases to amaze me how quickly children grow and learn. I feel as though every time I turn around my daughter is mastering something new. It sure doesn't take long. It feels like just yesterday she was learning to walk and now, she's heading into her second year of school. Where did the time go?!
Senior kindergarten. Wow. Remember how anxious we all were about her first day of school; how nervous I felt watching her climb those big steps getting on the school bus for the first time; how eager I was to hear all about the very first day of school? Looking back, the growth she went through from the first to the last day of junior kindergarten, is nothing short of amazing. I could go on and on about it too, but for those of you with children, you already know exactly what I'm talking about. And for those of you who don't (yet), you've now been forewarned at the phenomenal speed in which your baby will develop and mature in ten short months. So, savor every moment. Now, with the first year of school under both of our belts, we decided to throw a little spice in to the mix. Let me explain a bit first. I have yet to marry the father of my daughter. Logically, this means we have different last names. When our daughter was born, we agreed she would take her father's last name, and my last name was given as her middle name. In fact, before we even knew the gender of our child, we had agreed to this last name middle name concept. Because my last name is Quinn (a good Irish name!), it worked out nicely no matter what the given name should be. Plus, it doesn't hurt that it means “intelligent”. Her last name, however, is French. Now, I think if your last name is French (and you happen to live in the nations capital of a bilingual country) you should know how to speak the language. Her father does, although he doesn't speak French as often as he used to because I am not fluent in the language. But I should be. And so should our daughter. Entre the spice. We made a decision near the beginning of her second year of school, to register our daughter in a full French school. Giving her the opportunity to become fluently bilingual was important to me. I wasn't and I know first hand how difficult it can be to qualify for employment being uni-lingual in a bilingual city. I wanted to give my child every opportunity to learn and excel; to unlock as many doors as possible; to give her as many opportunities as possible to be her best and most successful in life. That's part of our job right? As the parents? And it's not like she had never exposed to the French language prior to this decision either. We both have french speaking relatives in our family. Every family function, she's at least hearing the language. Plus, we started speaking French at the table during dinner time. And so, it was like the very first day of school all over again. Only this time, it felt like we were sending her to another planet. And I'm sure, she must have felt the same. It was a sink or swim type of experiment, I suppose. What better way to teach a child a new language than to submerge them completely?! We were either doing something great or insanely stupid. Please Lord, tell me I'm doing the right thing here. His silence tells me but one thing. Have faith. Only time will tell.
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Shauna QuinnNo stranger to taking the road less travelled, I must admit those not so great choices made me who I am and led me to where I am right now, which happens to be exactly where I am supposed to be. Archives
July 2018
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