Parents all around the country upload images of their bright progeny dolled up and ready for their first day of school since the emergence of social media. We often see joyful kids holding a sign with their grade on the family front porch, almost always with the requisite backpack.
9. @jasarielm pic.twitter.com/BPcmgbZxHM
— kennedy. (@HelloKennedi) September 4, 2019
We all “Like” the photographs and comment on how swiftly time flies and how rapidly children grow up in response. It’s all so lovely and adorable.
But we seldom get to see the rest of that first day in the life of those children. And when we do, the photographs are genuinely priceless.
The Inspirational Quotes Page on social media published a compilation of before and after photos of children’s first days of school, and oh my, these children appear to have had quite the adventure.
On their first day of school, some of these kids appear to have escaped a natural calamity.
After his first day of kindergarten, this boy appears completely dazed.
Photo after photo of neatly coiffed hairdos that had been completely undone by the end of the day.
What’s the deal with the hole? There’s got to be a narrative here, right?
It isn’t simply the children who are affected. Consider how teachers are feeling at the conclusion of the first day of school. (I can speak from personal experience when I say that teachers are freaking superheroes.) It’s fulfilling work, but it’s also physically and mentally taxing.)
It’s not unexpected to see these before and after images of the first day of school, given the difficulty of su-rviving and trying to teach children during a worldwide epidemic.
Of course, the after photographs don’t take a-way from the thrill of a new school year, and let’s hope that most of these youngsters are disheveled because they had so much joy and activities during the day. The photos serve as a timely reminder that social media representations don’t always convey the whole story, and that children’s lives aren’t always as straightforward as we assume.
We understand, wee ones, for we’re dragging as well. Solidarity.
