My son's first day of secondary school was on Friday. (I got a big spot on my nose in what I assume was maternal sympathy.) The big milestone for us is that he's now responsible for getting himself to and from school. No school run for me!
He was adamant that he didn't want me accompanying him to the bus-stop, but they were starting late that first day, so I over-ruled him. He wouldn't be taking the usual bus, and I was afraid his bus pass wouldn't be accepted. As it was only year 7s and 12s going in, I was fairly confident that there wouldn't be any other pupils at the bus stop to see his maternal shame.
Just as well I went, as the usual bus was late. Eventually a completely different local bus turned up, one that doesn't normally come through our village. I talked to the driver who agreed to stop at the school and accept the bus pass. We waved my son off, and I proceeded to be wildly anxious.
I sent a hasty email to the school explaining that he might show up late, and he sent us a gloomy text from the bus but didn't respond to my later texts. I took this to mean he had made it into school (where phones must be switched off) and fought against the urge to helicopter-parent the hell out of the school phoneline. Thankfully, in due course, somebody replied to my email saying he'd arrived and was with the rest of his form.
As per his wishes, we didn't meet him at the bus stop at the end of the day. Instead, he called us on his walk home so that I could put the kettle on. And then again, to let us know that he was having to wait for cattle being herded in the road. At that point, my daughter charged out both to meet him and to see the herding. They came home, as complacent and satisfied with themselves as you'd expect from pre-adolescents, and we all had a cup of tea.
Tomorrow my daughter starts back as well. My son will walk down to the bus stop bright and early, and she and I will do the shorter walk to the village school by ourselves, which will be odd. Even odder when I collect her in the afternoon, and we have to wait almost an hour for him to get home. Another new routine for me to devise and the kids to groan about!
Along with back to school stress, we've managed to get a last gasp of summer holiday this week. I gave the kids their first experience of rowing on Tuesday, and then my boyfriend took us to an indoor rock-climbing gym on Wednesday. Today, we took Granny (and Grandad and the dog) out for a coastal lunch for her birthday.
Life has felt pretty good this week... At some point soon, I'm going to go back to student-hood, as well as the kids, but I'm determined to keep up the adventure side of things.
