My son Alexander recently started 4K at a public school, which technically costs our family $0 a month. That’s a big change from the $1,000-plus a month we were paying to keep him in daycare. He had been there from 2 months old all the way through 3K. My wife also went through quite a bit of debt to get surgery in New Orleans last year, so we’re very fortunate that we no longer have a bill that’s almost as big as our mortgage.

I’m glad he went through daycare so that 4K didn’t feel like a jolt of shock therapy for him. Even though he’s now in the public school system, most things aren’t that different from 3K to 4K. He does get breakfast and lunch for free like all the other students, but it’s a bit of a double-edged sword since he doesn’t seem to like any of the food they serve. He’s a very picky eater, like I was as a kid. My wife and I are a little worried he might have traditional ARFID like I do, but I’m hoping it’s just pickiness that he’ll grow out of.

The first week of school was pretty rough since he’d had the whole summer off. On top of that, he was in a new school with new teachers and completely different friends. On at least two of the drop-off days that week, he cried hard, and on Thursday specifically, he ended up pushing another kid and getting in trouble. Hopefully, he settles in as the year goes on, which I’m sure he will. We had a long talk about good behavior versus bad behavior and, most importantly, the importance of keeping our hands to ourselves.