Before/After Pics Of Kid’s 1st Day Of School Are A Metaphor For Life

The first day of school is exciting, but it can also be a challenge

It’s never easy heading back to school after a summer of fun, even if you’re excited to meet new friends and show off your duds. Just ask the adorable little girl in these before and after photos that were posted on Imgur in the aftermath of what was clearly a harrowing day.

Kelly O’Brien took photos of her adorable 5-year-old before and after her first day of kindergarten.

Look at her in the before photo.

She’s beaming with pride, perfectly put together, totally ready to rock it. She couldn’t be more thrilled to be heading off to school in her fabulous little outfit, her hair done up just so, on her way to start a new year of adventures, clearly eager and excited to get on that bus and get to school.

She had no idea what she was in for.

At the end of the day, after hours of introductions and schedules and rules, she emerges from the bus with the shell-shocked look of someone who’d gone through hell and back.

Her hair is a mess, her outfit is unrecognizable, and that bright, welcoming smile has been replaced with a wide-eyed daze. I’m surprised she wasn’t carried off in a stretcher.

Apparently, she got a bit more than she bargained for!

In my house, it’s not going to be easy to convince my first grader to even get on the bus on day one. Already, at the tender age of almost-six, he knows that the freedom of summer is preferable to the daily grind of elementary school. Of course, once he arrives and sees the friends who’ve been spread around at different camps for the past three months, things should start looking up. Unless he has a day like this poor little girl had.

If he gets off the bus looking like that, we’re gonna be in for a long year of wrestling him out the door and getting him back onto it every morning. But you know what? That’s too bad. Let me break out my tiny violin for these kids because we all have days like this. It’s part of growing up. I’ve never gotten home for work without a few hairs out of place! It’s a lesson we all have to learn eventually. Although first grade might be a little early…