Writings by me

My youngest, Harry, starts school in September and I am dreading it. because it feels MASSIVE this time in a way it didn’t with my first.

He’s really ready for it – I marvel everyday at how clever and switched on he is becoming, not to mention restless and ready for more.

I’m not ready for it. In fact, with each day that passes, I feel like I’m running out of time. When they start school they begin to change – slowly at first, until suddenly you have a little person on your hands rather than your baby.

I know I should focus on the positives; the older my babies grow, the less they need me, the more time I’ll have. Yet the more people tell me this, the more my face screws up in dread.

And it’s not just all the emotional stuff that gets me; school routines make everything whizz past. One minute, you’re on the first day of school and in the blink of an eye, in the midst of all the school stuff, activities and general ups and downs of life, here you are at the end of July with your youngest completed their settling in sessions and the eldest nearing the end of year 3.

Then there’s the other practicalities; double the amount of uniform, red school ties and grey socks (and an inexplicable growth in the odd sock pile). Double the amount of spellings to forget doing and double the amount of class birthday parties. Double the amount of socialising with a whole new set of parents and another class whatsapp group (shudders!). And what about Forest School days and PE days? I’m going to have to do that thing I always try to do but fail; perhaps this year will be the year I finally sort my shit out and get organised. But writing the above makes me want to take a long lie-down because just the thought of it all exhausts me.

The one thing I am looking forward to? The fact that they will both be in the same place. This cannot be overstated. One less packed lunch to make every morning (hoorah for free school meals for key stage 1) and one less logistical headache about how to arrange pick up. Fingers crossed Harry’s reception year won’t be blighted by a global pandemic either.