MARK MY WORD: GETTING READY FOR THE FIRSTYEAR OF SCHOOL

Bailey's pre-school days are numbered.

She's on the most-wanted list for kindergarten along with other 5-year-olds.

Late last week, I took Bailey to our local elementary school to sign her up for kindergarten for the coming school year.

It takes more than word of mouth or a simple signature to enroll your child in kindergarten these days. Parents have to fill out a lengthy form designed to reveal important information such as whether your child has had a whole host of diseases, displayed weapons or commanded an army of terrorists.

School officials need to know such information so teachers can properly prepare their classrooms to withstand the full-scale assault by kindergartners this fall.

Personally, I'm relieved to know that school staff take such precautions. I wouldn't want to expose Bailey to the senseless mayhem of 5-year-old terrorists bent on taking control of snack time.

It's hard to believe that our youngest daughter is ready for kindergarten. Bailey, however, is enthusiastic about her classroom future.

She's already informed me that students in kindergarten are expected to raise their hands when they want to ask the teacher something. Some kindergarten students become so adept at this hand raising thing that they become White House correspondents, which gives them plenty of opportunity to raise their hands at press conferences.

Bailey has been going to day care centers all her young life. So she's used to classroom settings, field trips and hanging out on the playground. But kindergarten is a whole new environment.

For one thing, we'll have to get her to school on time. That will be a challenge because Bailey isn't quick out of the starting gate in the morning. In fact, her sleeping habits conform more to college than kindergarten.

Still, it will be nice to haul both Bailey and her older sister, Rebecca, to the same school.

Bailey's already wondering whether she should ride to school with Mommy or Daddy. Decisions, decisions. It's tough to be 5.

I'm all for kindergarten. It allows children to get a head start on the first grade and parents to get used to buying all those school supplies.

The German educator Friedrich Frobel created the word "kindergarten" from two German words that mean "garden of children."

I've yet to see any gathering of kindergartners that even remotely resembles a garden.

Of course, educators have been cultivating this garden for years. The first public kindergarten appeared in the St. Louis school system in 1873. I'm sure this was cause for celebration with the naptime-blanket and lunch-box crowd.

According to the education experts with the World Book Encyclopedia, kindergarten rooms are usually big enough for children to move about freely and make large buildings out of blocks.

That's great, but Bailey isn't the building type. She'd rather model swimming suits or chase butterflies in the great outdoors.

But I'm sure Bailey will put aside such hobbies so she can learn important things like how to get mom and dad to buy her a cool lunch box.

Education, after all, can be a real treat.