This week was a big week – it was my 3 year old daughter Morgan’s first week of school. She started a summer pre-school program where they have class a couple times a week for a month in the summer.

What a huge deal. She probably handled it better than us! She’s absolutely loved it and we had an inkling that she probably would, which is why we signed her up for it. She and her dad have more than a few things in common and school is one of them. In the mornings she’s excited to go and afterwards she has a bunch of energy. It’s so fun to see her enjoying it and doing well.

While she’s been beyond cute, here’s something I observed about my daughter’s experience thus far. Today when we asked her about how school was she told us a couple things.

First, she said that she really likes her teacher, but she only calls her “Morgan.” We asked her, “Well, want do you want her to call you?” She answered, “Morgan Joy Virtue. I think I’ll have to tell her that next time.”

Second, she told us that her teacher appointed to be her helper because she was sitting so nicely on her number. She got to hold a flag or something.

What struck me is that even in preschool, we as people have a innate desire to be known. There’s something within Morgan that wants her teacher or others to know her as she sees herself. There’s also an innate desire for significance – to make a unique contribution and be special in our own way. It’s pretty amazing to see these core human needs at work even in a preschool context.

She can’t wait to go back next week and now we’re very proud parents of a preschooler.