Hold back the tears, it's your baby's first day of school!
As the day looms closer, and all the stores are frantically marketing their “Back to School” gear, where do you sit? What back to school category best fits you?
Ange
Miss Lexi is off to big school (pre-school) this week and first time "school mum" Ange has mixed emotions...
If you don’t have any children then this time probably doesn’t mean much except that there’s about to be a whole lot more traffic on the M4, and your current hour cruise to work during school holidays is about to be lengthened by at least another half and hour of stop-start.
Does back to school 2020 mean that your little one is starting pre-school for the first time? How do you feel about that? As a mother of a little girl about to embark on her first day of pre-school, I have mixed emotions.
I’m worried she wont fit in, or that she’ll be picked on, or forgotten or left behind in some way, I’m also worried that she’ll have a great time and not think about me, not miss me, and have no interest in coming home with me when 3pm rolls around.
This will be the first time that I will leave one of my children with anyone that I don’t personally know, and whilst I’ve met the teachers and the Director (actually on a few occasions now), and the school comes highly recommended, I’m scared to death of leaving my precious baby girl (ok, she’s almost 4!) with essentially, perfect strangers.
Back to school also means that our little girl is growing up, all too fast, and there’s nothing we can do about it, except go with it and hope that we do a great job along the way.
Come January 28, I know I’ll be trying my best for positivity, at least until I get into the car after dropping her off and turn into a mess. I cannot wait until 3pm rolls around...
Sarah (me!)
In contrast my youngest starts high school this week (he is definitely NOT as excited as Lexi)
It got me thinking about how quickly the years fly past. We have his kindergarten photo framed and on display in our home, and man oh man he was a cute little thing.
I have always been a sucker for school photos - I purchase them every single year. They are a rite of passage. The missing teeth, the freckles, the AWFUL haircuts (that were totally cool at the time), the teenage skin, the uniforms. As an adult I love looking back at my own school photos with a sense of pride (yep even the ones with the awful hair) - I have come SO far since then.
And now my boy (ok tween) is starting high school.
I am so proud of the gorgeous young man he is becoming, he is brave, funny and creative, he has grown into his ears and he loves his family fiercely. He wants to be a race car driver or a geologist when he leaves school, he loves fast cars, he can knit, and bake and he LOVES rocks and gems.
Before I know it he will be graduating school, driving and dating (OMG).
I am constantly documenting our lives, whether it be with my phone, my professional cameras, or vicariously through my adult children's images. Each year I collate a book from all of our images (I create a dropbox folder where my husband and each of our kids upload a selection of images each year). These books are proudly displayed on our coffee table, and gifted to each of the kids, and grandparents each year.
So the first day of High School is no exception, and as you can see his enthusiasm for returning to school is literally oozing out of this image. On his first day I will drop him off in the carpark, he might wave before casually strolling up to his mates and pretending that he didn't just wave to his mum.
Can't wait to hear about his first day in high school after he gets off the bus on Wednesday afternoon.
Are you ready?
Maybe back to school 2020 sees your small person starting kindergarten, or changing schools, maybe they find change a challenge and a new year is always difficult or maybe they are heading into high school.
Or maybe, for the first time since having children, maybe back to school finally has no meaning. Last year there was still the chaos of shoes, bags, pens and uniforms, maybe this year draws a blank. No need to head to the shops, no new black leather shoes and white sand-shoes for sport, no new backpack.
Regardless of what back to school 2020 means for you, we wish you all the best. We offer you a box of tissues, a giant mug of coffee and all the strength you may need to get through the day until 3pm rolls around.
