In the fall, Tage will be starting the Swedish equivalent of kindergarten, so he’ll be leaving his pre-school. This was to be expected, obviously, but we’ve encountered a little problem in the fact that he’s the only kid his age at his pre-school, so there won’t be anybody he knows at his “new” school when he starts. It’s usual at the pre-schools to have “five-year groups” once a week or so, when the prospective kindergarteners are gathered separately and given a little introductory course in all the changes to expect, but Tage’s school doesn’t have one, of course, for just one kid.

After a little brainstorming session last month with his teacher and another administrator, we decided that the best solution was to try to get him in with one of the five-year groups at a different pre-school. In order to make sure he wasn’t missing out too much at his “real” school, the principal granted him another day per week, so now he goes four days instead of three, and on Mondays his teacher takes him to a different pre-school to meet up with their five-year-olds. He’s been twice now, and both he and his teacher report that it’s going well.

In addition to that weekly date, there is a monthly gym day, when all the five-year-olds in our little town are invited to the school’s gym for an hour of running around and socializing. We do have to take him there ourselves, since it’s always on a Wednesday–not a regular school day for him–but really, it’s little enough for us to do. So far he’s been pretty shy on those days, and he refuses to undress in front of the other kids and take a shower, but I figure he’ll warm up to the whole thing after he’s gone another couple of times.

Between these two activities, I hope he gets a chance to make some friends and won’t feel so adrift as Lydia sometimes did during the first several weeks of her own kindergarten experience. Also in his favor is the fact that he speaks much better Swedish than she did at his age, and he’s much more familiar with Swedish norms and traditions than she was then. With all of that going for him, I’m sure the adjustment will go pretty smoothly for him, even if he himself is anticipating it with a bit of foreboding.