How is September nearly over? The days are long but the weeks are so short.
Our new post-lockdown routine is in full swing. My daughter is in school 5 mornings per week. Home work schedules, PE days and library book returns are firmly in the diary.
We are old hands at this lark now but our first week was not exactly the greatest start…
Day one – we all went to the school as a neat little family of three. Proud Mummy and Daddy, walking beside our very excited little angel. Shiny new shoes, fresh-out-of-the-box uniform on and hair coiffed to perfection.
“Please don’t run”. “Walk nicely”. “Please keep to the pavement”. “Don’t climb that..”
If only she had just listened to me, she wouldn’t be face down in the dirt crying now! I soothed her, dusted her off and as she fell with her mouth open – I helped escort the mud from her tongue with a tissue. No harm done. She was soon running into school with her friends, albeit looking slightly disheveled.
Day two was even worse. I can’t be sure who slipped over first. We both held each other’s hand, as we knew what happened yesterday, so we both hit the floor like a sack of crap! I landed on my knees. My daughter landed on her face. A bit of drama at Reception and an ice pack later, my daughter was back in class with a grazed and bruised cheek; while I shuffled home feeling like a complete tit. I’m that parent, the clumsy one that falls over.
Mortified.
Anyone with a child in school nowadays, knows the amount of pressure applied rather liberally to the parents. There is so much to remember. Our weekly newsletters (often 2- 3 pages long) are packed with useful tips and information about the current themes and activities.
For Show and Tell during the first week, my daughter’s class were asked to bring in a decorated “All about me” box. Inside was a prayer stone they had to paint as well as items, toys and craft, that would tell their peers a little bit about them.
The second week, they had to bring in an item or photo that made them happy. Then the third week was to go on an autumn hunt, to find treasures like conkers and pine cones and bring them in to look at.
We read daily and record each book in her school reading journal. We practice a selection of phonics that are checked weekly and have handwriting sheets that are also checked on return.
After my cherub has gone to bed, I will upload various photos to her online learning journal, illustrating how we have covered that week’s particular theme or show her completing her homework or just indicating something of interest. Likewise, her teachers upload photos of the children, from their classroom sessions so us parents can enjoy watching our child’s school experience.
I had to send my girl in with a new keyring this week as they all have school issue bags, which are great for uniformity but rather tricky to find when they are all tossed in a heap. Also I had to slip 2 pairs of old socks in her bag, as they wanted to use them to make sock buddies. Never a dull moment.
All the Year R parents have formed a WhatsApp group so we can support each other. Let’s just say…it’s in action regularly. I left my phone in the kitchen one evening, only to pick it up and find 38 unread messages on the group! Wow, what on earth had happened?!?!
Nothing…it was a rather detailed and passionate discussion over PE kit and whether shorts or jogging bottoms were appropriate. So glad I missed that. Other topics that have sent the group into a frenzy in our first month have been; start times, missing jumpers and school dinners. It’s all good fun.
It keeps me busy which is fantastic as there have been moments, when both my daughter and husband have been out doing their own thing at work and school and I have felt a little lost. I have smothered my “mmmmmm so what do I do now?”, in food and eaten it. As it turns out, comfort eating is not that comforting.
I need to find another focus. I need a plan. For starters, I need to put down the biscuits and start using my time more productively. Practicing how to walk like a grown up is job one.