MARK MY WORD: MY KID'S READY FOR KINDERGARTEN, RUG AND ALL

Goodbye day care, hello kindergarten.

My oldest daughter, 5-year-old Becca, starts kindergarten this week.

Where did the time fly? It seems only yesterday that Joni and I brought her home from the hospital and our bank account began going into a serious decline.

Diapers, kids' clothes and a ton of toys aren't cheap. Even those kiddie meals at fast-food joints add up.

It wasn't that long ago that Becca was hair-challenged. But baldness didn't last. Now, she has plenty of hair.

Becca is prepared for school. She has her rug, glue, scissors, lunch box and a whole bunch of other things that she needs.

Of course, by now they're all spread out throughout the house. Gathering them up again will take some work.

But then again, there's nothing like rounding up school supplies to give parents a reason for celebrating the start of school.

If the kids stayed home any longer, you'd have to buy a whole new set of school supplies.

Becca even has a thermos of her very own.

Now that she's going to kindergarten, we'll have to read all those lunch menus that we run in the paper so we can figure out what days we don't have to fix her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Forget about Congress, President Clinton and world politics. It's school lunch menus that drive our world.

Becca's so excited she can't wait for the first day of school. She's ready to go to the head of the class. I just hope she doesn't butt in line to do it.

During our recent vacation, we took her by the elementary school one afternoon.

The assistant principal showed us Becca's kindergarten room and the school cafeteria.

Becca was thrilled. She couldn't stop smiling. I think she would have camped out in the room if we would have let her.

Our youngest daughter, Bailey, liked the school too. But when you are a year and half old, even bath time is fun.

With school ready to start, Joni wants me to snap a first-day-of-school picture of Becca.

I know of people who carry on this tradition every year. Of course, by the time they get to high school, the kids are scowling when mom and dad point the lens in their direction.

Public education has plenty of critics and a good number of supporters.

But few critics or supporters dwell on kindergarten. Perhaps they should.

You have to love a teacher that allows you take a nap in her class and play post office.

I was talking to an area kindergarten teacher recently and was relieved to discover that kids still play post office and they do so without shooting up the place.

Mailing letters is still fun at that age. They don't know about bills. And they don't know about all those disgruntled ex-mailmen who view post offices as suitable sites for target practice.

In kindergarten, even the alphabet is fun.

Like many children, Becca and Bailey have grown up in a day-care setting.

Going to kindergarten, I suppose, isn't the cultural shock it used to be when I was growing up.

After all, there are rules in day care too.

Still, it's a big step to go from pre-school to school.

As a parent, you want to hold your young child's hand -- the one that isn't sticky from gum. You don't want to let go.

You want to accompany your child to kindergarten class and stay awhile.

In my case, I also could use the nap.

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.