We Sisters, like everybody else, have our own little secrets

Why do people keep secrets? Maybe there’s something you did you’re not proud of. Perhaps something happened to you that you haven’t wholly come to terms with. Occasionally, there’s the secret someone else confided in you. Or it simply might be an idea, thought, or emotion you’re just not ready to share.

Whatever the reason, when you’re ready to reveal the secret, who are you most likely to share it with? Your mother, your spouse, your sibling, your best friend? Or maybe the secret is out, and you’re ready to tell it to the world?

We Sisters, like everybody else, have our own little secrets. And after writing our SisterSchmooze column for many years, we’ve come to feel like our readers in Family First are family.

So join us as we share our secrets. But — shhh — remember to keep our secrets to yourselves….

Shhh! Marcia confesses that…

I Got Kicked Out of First Grade

Yes it’s true. It all started back in the mid-’50s when there were few, if any, affordable Jewish preschools. I’d been an adored only-child for five years when my parents, struggling financially and new at American-style parenting, decided to send me straight to first grade in Bais Yaakov— without ever sending me to preschool… and right after presenting me with twin baby sisters! It didn’t help that I was one of the youngest in the class.

Of course, I spent the first few weeks of school with my head on the desk, crying. Finally, the teachers called my parents: “This is not working.”

After being kicked out, I entered kindergarten at PS 121. Loved it. Lots of toys, kids playing, barely any structure. At year’s end, they took us on a tour of first grade. By then, I was excited to move on within this fun place.

One day that summer, my father came home and announced excitedly: “Guess where you’re going for first grade? Back to Bais Yaakov!”

Well, that did not go over well. To this day, I remember the tantrum I threw. I locked myself into the bathroom and screamed like a banshee. When my parents’ friend, Mr. H, came to visit, they must have been mortified. Does he think child abuse is going on here? they probably wondered.

My father was a quiet man. He was surrounded by strong-minded, talkative women who could twist him around their little pinkies. But that day, he stood his ground.

“No,” he declared. “You’re going to Bais Yaakov. And that’s it.”

The rest is history. I did well in Bais Yaakov, even managing to eventually skip a grade — so that lost year was not really lost. Instead, I gained… oh so much. Very few hiccups along the way, except for the time…

… when I got kicked out of sixth grade for a day.