Weaning Season and Kindergarten Roundup

‍By: Jordan Classen

For months, a cow pours everything into her calf. She feeds it, protects it and teaches it how to live within the herd. Slowly, the calf begins wandering farther from her side, playing with the other calves and exploring the world around it. It learns to graze, drink on its own and find its place within the herd.

Then one day, it's ready.

Motherhood feels a lot like that.

For years, we do nearly everything for our babies. We know their routines, their favorite foods and the little look that tells us something is wrong. Then, seemingly overnight, we're putting a backpack on their shoulders and sending them through the doors of kindergarten. They'll make friends we didn't choose. They'll solve problems when we aren't there. They'll come home with stories about moments we didn't get to see.

And that's exactly what we've been preparing them to do.

A calf can be ready to be weaned and still call for its mama. A child can be ready for kindergarten and still reach for our hand. And a mama can know they're ready and still wish for one more day with them safely tucked beside her.

Being sad that a season is ending doesn't mean the next one is wrong. It simply means the last one mattered.

Eventually, the pasture gets quiet again. The calves settle into their new routine, and the cows do, too. Soon enough, what felt so new simply becomes the next season of life.

Maybe that's one of the lessons agriculture gives us about motherhood: our job was never to keep them beside us forever. Our job is to love them, teach them and prepare them well enough that someday they can walk into the next pasture—or through the school doors—without us.

And perhaps the hardest, most beautiful part of raising them well is watching them prove they're ready.

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