by The Party Fairy
Here in the UK, this is the week when many children are going back to school after the summer holidays. And for many four and five year olds, it’s their first day in school and they’ll be filled with a mixture of excitement, dread, joy and separation anxiety.
Did I say the children? Make that the parents!
Shelly told me yesterday that her youngest starts school this week, and it reminded me of my first-day-at-school experience with my own little princess, Emily, who’s now nearly 20.
Throughout Emily’s life I’ve encouraged her to be independent in thought and deed. It never occurred to me that doing so would come back to bite me on the bum on her first day at school…
I was a full time working mum, so Emily had always been cared for while I was at work by my auntie Jackie, a registered childminder.
On Emily’s first day at school Jackie and I sat in a corner of the classroom, trying to be invisible, as requested by the teacher. We watched Emily play for about an hour, sharing her excitement as she discovered the sand tray, the water play area, the Lego, the play house, the other children…
Like mums do, Jackie and I exchanged regular little glances that were loaded with “awwws” and “blesses”. Blinking back tears of pride that our baby was growing up - I may have been Emily’s mum, but Jackie was doing a good proportion of the upbringing - we waited for Emily to get into a panic at being left alone.
And waited. And waited. And waited…
Eventually, Emily looked around and spotted us sitting in the corner. “Ah,” we thought, somewhat smugly, “here it comes. She’s panicking.” We smiled at Emily reassuringly, gave her a little wave, a little thumbs-up.
Emily wandered over and eyed us suspiciously.
“Everything OK, sweetheart?” I asked, anxiously.
“Yeah, fine thanks mum,” she replied. “But I was wondering… why are you two still here? Haven’t you got anything better to do?”
Little Miss Independence, eh? If only she felt that enthusiastic about leaving home…