Mother Monday thought:
The beginning of a school year isn’t just another chapter for our children. It’s another tiny chapter in our motherhood too. And if the first week involves a forgotten water bottle, a missing sock and somebody crying before 8am, I’d call that a perfectly respectable start.
What is it about the last week of the summer school holidays?
Every year, something extraordinary happens to mothers with school aged kids across Britain. I was no different when my daughter was in school.
September looms large. Never mind that it has followed August reliably for several thousand years. Somewhere around the last week of the summer holidays, thousands of us suddenly remember:
THE CHILDREN HAVE TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL – PANIC STATIONS
And thus begins the ‘Great End of Summer Panic’. You could have bought the school shoes in July but you didn’t. July saw you relaxed and optimistic and you believed there was plenty of time.
August sees you now standing in a shoe shop alongside 47 other desperate parents while a child announces that every pair of perfectly sensible shoes is “ugly”.
Then comes the uniform. The trousers that fitted perfectly six weeks ago now hover somewhere around the ankles. The school jumper has mysteriously disappeared. The PE kit appears to have spent the summer fermenting at the bottom of a bag. And nobody can find the tie.
Then comes the stationery
Why does a child need seventeen different pens? Why must the pencil case be a particular colour?
Why are we buying another scientific calculator when you are absolutely certain there are already three somewhere in the house? I found five compasses when I was clearing up after my daughter left school but, yet, she needed a new one every term!
Motherhood involves accepting that certain possessions simply enter another dimension along with Tupperware lids and odd socks.
And then there is the admin
School emails begin arriving. Forms need completing. Apps need downloading. Passwords need remembering. Clubs need booking. Lunch accounts need topping up.
Somewhere in all this, there will inevitably be an email you discover at 10.37pm informing you that your child needs to bring something extremely specific into school the following morning. Naturally, it is something you do not own.
But here’s the funny thing!
For all the chaos, there is something rather lovely about the beginning of a new school year.
New books.
New teachers.
New friendships.
New possibilities.
Children get another chance to begin again.
And perhaps mothers do too.
You don’t have to enter the new school year as the perfectly organised mother.
You don’t need colour-coded calendars, homemade lunchbox snacks and beautifully labelled drawers.
Your child does not need perfection.
They need someone in their corner. Someone who encourages them when they’re nervous. Someone who listens when the friendships become complicated. Someone who reminds them that one bad mark isn’t the end of the world. Someone who believes in them while they’re still learning how to believe in themselves.
So, mothers, take heart
If you’re currently surrounded by school uniform, wondering why you’ve left everything until the last minute again, you are in excellent company.
Buy the shoes.
Find the PE kit.
Complete whichever form you’ve forgotten.
And when that first morning finally arrives, take the obligatory photograph by the front door.
Because one day, incredibly, there will be no new school year to prepare for.
The shoes by the door will be adult-sized.
The uniform will be gone.
And September will arrive without anyone needing a new pencil case.
You may even find yourself missing the chaos.
Although probably not the geometry set.
