Parents — Are you Feeling Emotional About Your Child Starting School?
I am! It’s still months away and I’ve already been in tears.
I’ve got to confess, I used to see people posting photos of their child starting school and think all the emotion surrounding it was a bit OTT. Now, I completely get it!
My 4-year-old starts in September and I’ve already cried a couple of times at the thought of it.
Don’t get me wrong, my daughter is very ready for school. She currently goes to nursery in the mornings but it’s not enough for her anymore, she needs more.
Bouncing around the house and bored out of her mind, she is more than ready to start.
And with her two-year-old sister also demanding my attention every moment of the day, I’m also incredibly ready for the volume around the house to decrease a notch.
And yet, I’m so not ready at the same time. For most of her life, I’ve been fortunate enough to spend the majority of the day with her. I know her so well, that I can guess what every scowl or smile means.
It’s going to be difficult to spend most of the day away from her. It’ll be strange to think that they’ll be a massive part of her life (school!) that she will be dealing with alone.
As parents, this is obviously what we prepare them for, we want them to be independent, we want time back to ourselves (so, so desperately!) and yet … it’s so emotional. I bet most of us wish we could be a fly on the wall on their first day of school.
School is their first big step into the world on their own, so I guess it makes sense to be so emotional about it.
Especially when you know that school will be largely responsible for shaping their character. They’ll be days when they come home grinning from head to toe and days when they barge through the door and burst into tears.
I’ll openly admit that I’m hugely emotional about my child starting school. I’ll be sending a photo to all my family and friends (sorry but not sorry in advance!) and I’ll be first in line to pick her up.
I’m sure a year from now, I’ll be complaining that the school day isn’t long enough — but for now, I’m going to let myself have a good cry because seeing your kid off to school for the first time is a big deal.
