The lids are put firmly back on—for now.
Yesterday was the first day back at school for the Buzzelli family, and I’m relieved to report that everyone had a great day! My teacher husband shared that his newest crop of students seemed like “good kids” and humorously recounted the more amusing results of his “getting to know you” student icebreaker.
My 4-year-old daughter was very excited to share about all the student jobs in her new class (unsurprisingly, she has high hopes of being the line leader), and then she led us in several rounds of a new song she learned called Hickety Pickety Bumblebee.
On my end, I navigated the wild west of the school parking lot drop-off/pickup lines without incident, and otherwise enjoyed a productive, quiet day of work, free of Play-Doh and interruptions, for the first time since May.
It's a vast understatement to say that I ‘breathed a sigh of relief’ at the end of the day yesterday. In reality, I gulped it down as fast as I could and then fell solidly asleep before 9pm.
It’s been a long, busy summer for us, undoubtedly one of our own doings! In June, we sold our house and left our beloved New Jersey suburb in favor of small-town, rural living in south central Pennsylvania to be closer to family and in pursuit of a fantastic new job opportunity for my husband at a well-resourced local private school. June was full of packing and good-byes. July was full of unpacking, cleaning, painting, and a few unexpected calls to the plumber. Then suddenly, August and back-to-school season were upon us! Needless to say, it’s been a whirlwind and we haven’t been able to catch our breath.
Through it all, I’ve gained greater empathy for the families Bennett works with as they move across oceans and borders, making my NJ-PA relocation seem like a walk in the park by comparison. Still, navigating moving logistics, house selling/hunting/buying, switching insurance and healthcare providers, re-registering vehicles and obtaining updated drivers licenses, getting lost a few times, and learning the new grocery store landscape (we can't find falafel anywhere here!) is not for the faint of heart, especially when your surname is a bit uncharacteristic for the area (“Buzzelli? Is that Italian?”)! And, for families like ours with young kids, helping them through such big life transitions—new schools, new friends, new rooms—is the most important 'moving piece’ of all.
One of the perks of being married to a teacher is that our school search process was very straightforward. We were very fortunate and excited that our daughter can attend my husband’s PreK-12 school with him, which has helped check one big item off our list of concerns! But as a parent, there was still plenty of nervousness involved in our move. Would my daughter understand what was happening? How would she handle missing her friends, and making new ones? Would she experience any academic or behavioral regressions, and what is normal? Is this move really the right thing for our family?!?
Reflecting on our experience, there are a few things that we did, some intentionally and some unintentionally, that seemed to help our daughter process the transition and ultimately have a successful first day of school this year:
· We involved her from the very beginning. She “helped” with packing and unpacking. We showed her the Zillow pictures of our new house nearly every day until officially moving in. She picked out a paint color for her new room (pink!). We visited her new school together and made sure she got a chance to test out the playground and meet her teacher before her first day.
· We talked about her feelings and that it was normal to be nervous, but that she could also be excited and brave at the same time. We talked about her first day of school two years ago, when she was just starting PreK-2, and how nervous she was at first, but also how she made friends and had a lot of fun.
· We sought out library books, media, and other resources to validate my daughter’s experience. The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day was a regular bedtime story; we watched Bluey’s “The Sign” episode too many times to count (and admittedly may have teared up each time, without fail), and our friends and family talked to our daughter about their experiences moving when they were kids, all of which she absorbed and internalized.
· We made time for fun amidst the chaos. With a million boxes to unpack, we intentionally planned family time, even if just for a few slivers of time a day. We went to the pool, checked out the local ice cream shop, visited the car wash (a big deal if you’re 4!), and instituted a “Freezy Pop O’Clock” where we would all take a break and enjoy an afternoon ice pop together on the deck outside.
· We kept things as familiar as we could. My daughter could always count on the same morning and bedtime routines, her same snacks, and her same nightlight, even if she did sleep on a mattress on the floor for the first week or two! We kept her most favorite toys and outfits accessible. We’ve also kept in touch with her little friends from our old neighborhood through video calls and sending letters.
Certainly, we still experienced our fair share of meltdowns and moments of weakness this summer. Freezy Pop O’Clock couldn’t come soon enough some days. But at the end of it all, we think the good outweighed the bad, by quite a large margin at that!
After a wild summer whirlwind, all our relocation and back-to-school worries officially melted away at bedtime last night when, right before closing her eyes, my sweet daughter asked, “Mom, do I get to go to school again tomorrow?”
To all our relocating families around the world who are also starting a new adventure and new school year, may your children's successful first day of school also provide a much needed and well-deserved relief for you. Deep breaths in the meantime!
By Hannah Buzzelli
Hannah Buzzelli joined the Bennett Operations team in 2019 where she helped manage the company’s daily workflow and provided natural expertise in process refinement. In 2022, Hannah took on a new role at Bennett as Scholarship Programs Manager, and in this capacity she has led the building out of all aspects of Bennett’s Scholarship Management Program: the IT platform for the receipt of scholarship applications, the processes whereby scholarship students are selected, the communications related to all stages of the application process, the onboarding of new scholarship recipients, and the student tracking and reporting required by the corporate scholarship provider. She has also helped to develop the mentoring program that supports scholarship recipients as they transition from secondary school their native countries to universities around the world. Hannah has since become a regular member of our blogging team.
Bennett International Education Consultancy works directly with hundreds of families each year across the globe. We support families by helping them make informed decisions about the best-fit schools for their children; with our guidance, they secure placement in preschools, private day schools, public/state schools, boarding schools, colleges & universities, including schools with particular programs, such as special needs support.