Back to School Emotions

Happiness

There is happiness when you know your children are going back to school. Back to the routine. Back to not trashing the house from 6am to 8pm. Knowing that they enjoy school and they’re looking forward to seeing their friends every day.

Stress

There is stress too. Can we afford all the new uniform when we want to treat them during school holidays? The stress of buying it all, checking sizes, labelling, and god forbid if the uniform shop runs out of the right sizes.

Worry

There is worry before school returns. There is worry through the first day too. Will they have friends in their new class? Will they like their teacher? Will they come out of school beaming and laughing or crying and upset. Will they make new friends? Will they get bullied?

Sadness

Most mums that I know will feel a sadness about the start of school too. Even those who can’t wait for their kids to be out from under their feet. The new school year means moving up a year, reminding you how quickly they’ve grown, how quickly they still are growing. They don’t stay small very long, and personally I know I miss those days. Having a baby now makes it more obvious to me too. One day they won’t need me anymore!

Pride

There is pride. Overwhelming sometimes. How they’ve grown. All the things they’ve learned. The sweet kind people they’ve become and continue to grow into. The years of life you’ve invested into them reflected back at you.

All of these emotions have been swirling in my mind. I admit I’ve cried this week about them growing up too fast. These emotions cycled through me again when I took their traditional first day of school photos this morning, and when I was waiting for them in the playground at 3pm.

We are lucky. They are clever and kind. They are healthy and well behaved. They have no disabilities to hinder them. Some children struggle with school, making friends, or change in general and I applaud their parents for helping them through it.

I wish the best of luck to all children beginning a new chapter of their lives, and I wish their parents the strength to get through it with them.