For parents starting Kindergarten…

This time last year I was nervously counting down the days until I sent my first child to Kindergarten. Uniforms were all washed and ironed ready, school shoes bought, bag and all manner of lunch containers… but here are a few things I wanted to share that as a first time Kinder-Mummy you might not know:

1. When you ask them what they did at school today their answer will almost always be “I don’t remember.” This can be frustrating but be rest assured, they are doing stuff and they are learning but for some reason they can’t tell you what that is.

2. They will bring all manner of things home inside their shoes. Sand, bark, twigs, rocks, even small living creatures. How so much stuff gets in there and how they can walk around without it bothering them I do not know.

3. Be prepared to be frustrated on a daily basis that not all things that go to school with them in the morning will come home in the afternoon. At least one thing will disappear for a day or two, sometimes even weeks. Most common are drink bottles and school hats. It is very annoying but a fact of school life

4. Make sure you search through every pocket and crevice of your child’s schoolbag so you don’t miss that all important scrunched up note telling you there is a swimming carnival tomorrow.

5. Be prepared for your child to destroy things such as school bags, shoes and lunch containers. Perhaps it is a boy thing and I suspect mine uses his school bag as some sort of target practice.

6. Make a friend. I have a fellow Mummy-friend and we remind and tell each other what we find out because there can be so many school events, mufti days, sports days etc that between the two of us we manage to cover everything (hi Tamara! xx)

There are things you will forget – library day, banking day, and heaven forbid – a mufti day – but overall you will survive. Getting your child to school in correct uniform, hat, labelled bag and items within and lunches 5 days a week is a big job.

One last thing: if you are anything like me you might still get a little teary even at the end of the school year when you see your child running through the school gates. There’s just something about watching him with that big bag flopping all over his back as he runs in that gets me a teeny bit emotional. 🙁

I wonder if this year (Year 1) it will pass….?