SPT: Childhood Memories

Believe it or not, this is the one picture I have of my first day of kindergarten. The back of my head. But I'm pretty sure I know what my mom was going for, my crowning glory, the long blond hair. Who knows, maybe my face was dirty? Which is a pity, cause kindergarten was my most attractive year.
School started off great. That first year of kindergarten was the best ever. I remember being popular, I joke that the only time I've ever been popular has been in kindergarten, but it's really true. The kids used to fight over who could sit next to me at lunch. It was great.
Things just got worse from there on.

First Grade.

I think this is where it started to go down hill. Kids are mean, I had no front teeth, and the ones that eventually came in to replace my unsightly gap were insanely large and stuck out to create an unsightly overbite. It was the bane of my existence. And to top it all off I had a horrible speech delay, I couldn't say my 'R's' and people often did not understand what I was saying.
So school was never great for me, except for high school when I got braces and a bit more confidence, then it got better.
But I have a terrible fear of school, and I fear for my children. How do you protect them from being bullied or terrorized? I guess you can't, but I hope to give them enough confidence and self-worth to not let the negative things affect them deeply.
On a more positive note, the one thing I do remember well about grade school is the fashion. I have three sisters, so there were a lot of curled banged and large cans of aerosol hairspray around the house. If your bangs were not stiff and high, they were not looking good. I also remember wearing jeans, but I would roll them over and then roll them up my calf, and take my socks and roll them down like a doughnut around my ankle. I thought this was cool. Maybe it was, I mean it was the eighties.