Everything in my house was upside down last week as we hurtled a million miles an hour into the first day of school and out of a slow, lazy summer . My 7-year-old, usually last one up and extremely school-averse, was awake and dressed, a big smile on his face, excited to usher in third grade. My 5-year-old daughter, on the other hand — the only one of my three kids who has never shed a tear at day care, preschool, or kindergarten — was suddenly moaning about not wanting to go.

When I finally got her to open up about why, she told me that even though she was excited to see her friends, she was scared about learning, nervous that she didn’t know how to read yet, and sad that she wasn’t prepared for first grade. I had to remind her that she was still in kindergarten, only moving up from

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