Back to school and the mental load

The end of the suspension of reality that comes post-holiday is pretty tough – and it isn’t just the return to work. There’s the mental adjustment as the fluid carefree days begin to make way for routines, and eating out and having picnics is replaced with cooking day in, day out. There’s the food shopping, cleaning and laundry; the admin that took a backseat is suddenly top of the to do pile. Then there’s catching up with personal correspondence/social media. Whilst a whole year WhatsApp group chat is very useful, I do find it stressful when it’s pinging off the hook!

The to do list

• Buying all the uniform for a new school and ensuring it has the correct house colour trim (of course my twins are in different houses!)
• New school bags suitable for ‘big school’
• Buying PE bags
• New school shoes – grappling with sizes being out of stock
• New PE trainers
• Buying new stationery items and maths equipment that wasn’t needed at junior school
• Replenishing other stationery equipment
• Uniform labelling (and labelling everything else)
• Ensuring they have a reading book they enjoy for the first day back
• Making sure all homework and ‘voluntary tasks’ have been completed
• Signing up for clubs both school and external
• Checking new timetable

Preventing back to school burnout

Whilst nothing can prevent the back to school burnout totally, there are a few things that I find alleviate it. Breaking down the whole to do list into smaller chunks and tackling tasks individually definitely helps. For example, a morning of shoe/trainer shopping. For me it pays to start early and tick a few things off for a psychological boost.

File all school emails together so you can quickly and easily refer back. Also write down all dates mentioned in emails as soon as possible on a wall calendar. I find that with so much going on if I don’t do this quickly, it slips my mind!

Get the kids back to their normal ‘term time’ bedtime routine three days before the start of term and make sure us parents get a few earlier nights: tiredness never helps anyone!

Meal plan for the week ahead and do a big food shop before they go back. This removes a lot of last minute stress and saves lots of trips to the supermarket.
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Good to luck to all the children (and parents) for next week!

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Here are a few things I’ve picked up when buying school uniform, especially for the first time.

• Buy short-sleeved shirts – Even for winter, buy short-sleeved as opposed to long. Children seem to prefer no cuffs as they are more ‘free’ and there are no fiddly buttons. I prefer them as cuffs always get filthy and never come properly clean again. Short sleeved means that often you can get two day’s wear out of the same shirt

• Velcro fastening/riptape collar shirts – No fiddly top button to negotiate. Marks and Spencer do velcro instead of a top button on shirts for children up to the age of 8

• Two pairs of trousers or two pinafores is enough for the week – However, I’ve found that my girls need four summer dresses for the Summer term (they show up dirt more!)

• Pinafore instead of a skirt – For girls, buy pinafores. They keep everything in place (no untucked shirts, which happens instantly with the skirts) and helps avoid canteen medallions on the shirt so you can often get two days wear out of the same shirt

• Invest in heavier duty sturdy school shoes –  The far cheaper supermarket ones are very appealing, but they don’t last. They are however a good stopgap if your child has a sudden growth spurt and needs another pair but the timing is wrong for buying the ‘main’ pair. Startrite are a really good fit and very durable.

• Buy velcro-fastening shoes – Much faster in the mornings and much easier for them to get changed for PE

• When to buy school shoes – It might be tempting to get the shoes bought nice and early, but leave buying until the last minute. Childrens’ feet have a habit of growing fast in summer! New school starters will be back at school a week or two after the other children, so these in-between weeks are a great time to go as it’ll have quietened down in the shops
• Plimsoles – You can definitely buy cheaper plimsoles. They get such light use in the first couple of years that it’s pointless buying expensive ones
• Labels – Labelling uniform is essential. If, like me, you can’t be doing with sew on labels, invest in good iron on ones.

Please share any more top tips you have below…

You might also like: https://www.theparentsocial.com/starting-school-part-2/ 

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My School Fears and Guilt

Once again I’m starting to worry that somehow I haven’t done enough with them during the carefree time and short hours of pre-school. However, I’m mainly feeling a bit guilty that I’m rather looking forward to having all three at school.

I currently cram my freelance work into the hours that M&G are at pre-school. Come September, I won’t be constantly working against the clock. This will be a great relief and good for my sanity. Also, I won’t have to drag them to the supermarket; I’ll have the time to do it when they’re out at school. Doing the food shop solo will be a real luxury (for all of us). I’ll be able to prep dinner so that we’re not rushing about in the evening. I’ll also be able to get more house stuff done without having to neglect anyone. I might finally have time to go to a dental appointment or, shock horror, be able to get my hair cut during the week.

I hope it might make me a calmer mum. Currently most of my time right now is spent feeling really stressed as I rush so that I can get work done and fit everything else in. To give an example, if the girls are walking back slowly after pre-school I’ll cajole them so that I can get back home quicker to check emails etc. Maybe, come September, we’ll be able to stop and smell the flowers more. I envisage that we’ll have more quality time together as I won’t be fussing that I have to do x, y and z in a really narrow window.

Splitting up twins at school

We’ve decided to put M&G in different classes at school. I believe it will provide the opportunity for them to develop independently and find their own paths (read more here: Should twins be separated at school?).

Currently they spend pretty much every waking moment together, so I think it will do them a lot of good emotionally and socially. They know the school very well because of big sis, so I don’t think they’ll find it at all daunting. I also think if they’re in the same class it’s too easy to make comparisons, which is unfair; especially as one seems to be quite a bit more academic than the other. It’s going to be a bit of a logistical nightmare. There’ll be twice as many concert performances to go to and curriculum meetings to attend. I’m also trying not to think about just how many childrens’ parties they’ll be invited to!

I think it’s going to be a bit of an adventure for all of us…

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Day Thirty Two

The girls loved Tulleys Puzzle Park (the summer holidays offering from Tulleys Farm) in West Sussex so much that we made a return visit so that they could show daddy.

In the maize maze

We didn’t take a packed lunch this time, so our first stop was The Farmyard Grill, which does BBQ food and sandwiches/baguettes. The food was really good and reasonably priced.

Then we headed straight into the maze. I think Matt had underestimated the scale of it. It was blisteringly hot so I guessed we wouldn’t last the two hours plus of our last visit. As before, the girls really loved it. After getting off to a good start by collecting several stamps quite quickly, we had a dry spell. Luckily this coincided with finding the cafe within the maze. We stopped for refreshments, but unfortunately Maria got stung by a wasp. We got some emergency ice lollies to calm the situation and the guy at the kiosk gave Maria a complimentary one.

Duck racing

We gave it a good go, but Matt, Maria and Gabriella were tiring. Sofia and I were up for carrying on, but the others won. So much to Sofia’s disgust, we cheated to get out.

Tractor ride

Then it was duck racing, rope mazes, the giant slide, trampolines, a family tractor ride and a go on the quad barrel train. Just as we were about to leave we bumped into my friend and her family, who live in Madrid and had just arrived in the UK for a visit. She’d been reading the blog and seen my earlier post about Tulleys so decided to visit. Quite a coincidence!!

The girls thoroughly enjoyed their day and were tired out.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 4  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Three 

Sofia had another Pizza Express party to go to today, which chopped the day up quite a bit, but did mean we ended up having takeaway pizzas for lunch 🙂  The girls have played pretty well on a day that saw us having to do lots of boring kitchen-related stuff, so I broke out the new High School Musical doll I had stowed away for just such a day.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 1  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Four

A proper rainy day. We have an annual pass, so we headed back to Hobbledown. It’s a farm, but also has a lot else going on. For a bad weather day like today, we were going for it’s vast indoor play area; a saviour in the holidays. Shortly after we arrived there was a break in the rain so we went straight over to The Crystalite Mine.

A lot of crystalite

This is a giant sand pit where crystalite (green gems) are hidden. If you find enough pieces they can be exchanged for lollipops at the end of the visit. The girls go crazy for this. As not many people were mad enough to head over there straight after the downpour, it was rich pickings. We then visited the animals, including the new wallaby enclosure.

taking a look at the otters, who were being shy

Then it was off to watch a puppet show before having lunch. After that it was several hours of indoor play. The girls actually went to bed slightly earlier than usual!

At the puppet show

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Lollipops: 3 Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Five 

A wet miserable day, which meant indoor play and a disco with some of our favourite tunes complete with disco ball.

We did venture out of the house to go to the library. Sofia has now finished the Summer Reading Challenge and was very keen to collect her stickers and medal. She’s opted to receive her certificate back at school. All three chose new books to take home.

Very happy despite the serious face

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Six

This rain is torrential! Thankfully we’d already seen the forecast so planned a cinema trip with one of Sofia’s oldest friends (from baby group) at Dorking Halls. We went to see Strange Magic.

It was all about love: infatuation versus true love. The story was mainly told via song and had elves, fairy princesses, goblins, imps, magic and love potions. It was a big hit with our party of five girls. However, the adults were a little bit skeptical: two princesses who are sisters (one of whom becomes fiercely independent), power ballads and a good looking, male protagonist who turns out to be a wrong’un… hmmm familiar. Think Mr. Lucas let it go a bit.

Then it was off to Côte, which a very nice childrens’ menu, for a late lunch.

Ice creams: 3  Ice lollies: 0 Popcorn: bucketloads  Minor bickerings: 1  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Seven

We had a meet up with some of the children that are going to be in Sofia’s new class when she goes back after the holidays.

We went to Jupiter Jos in Ewell. It’s a soft play centre on two levels, but it’s fairly small scale. The kids love it there as there’s some really good apparatus and the mums love it even more as it’s really easy to keep tabs on where the children are. Some soft plays are vast and it can be really difficult to spot your children, let alone get to them if they need. It is one of the few soft play venues I can actually relax a bit and – dare I say it – have a cup of coffee.

In the evening we had friends over, who also have three girls. Carnage!

Ice creams: 0  lollipops: 3 Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Eight

Pre- back-to-school haircut in the morning for Sofia. Then we had lunch and playdate with two of her oldest and closest nursery friends. It was a lovely day, and so great to see that they all had such affection for each other despite not seeing each other that often. Maria and Gabriella also had a fab time. Picnic lunch and plenty of play. Perfect!

Ice creams: 0  Biscuits: 6 Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Nine

First curry sitting for the kids

We travelled to Wiltshire for the bank holiday weekend as we were celebrating two family birthdays on the Monday. There was lots of family time playing cards and games and Matt cooked up two wonderful curries. We had proper dessert, but I’d also bought some pop corn kernels and the kids and I made it in the pan. To say it was a hit was an understatement!

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0 Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Forty

The five of us plus my mother-in-law went for a really lovely trip to Stourhead, one of the nicest National Trust places I’ve been to. It has a wonderful Palladian mansion and absolutely stunning landscaped gardens. We had lunch at the NT restaurant and then headed straight to the house, which as you’d imagine was steeped in history. However, the focus was on ‘Harry’s Story,’ and the house brought to life what it was like growing up in this family home. The children had a few activities to do so were fully engaged. It was definitely one of the more hands on NT properties we’ve visited. After exploring all the rooms we headed outside into the rain…

The Stourhead estate is 1,072 hectares and includes farmland, temples, grottoes, lakes, a huge number of rare and exotic trees, a gothic cottage and the stable yard, which had shops, a gallery and a pub. We were there for some hours but only covered a small part of it. The girls particularly liked the grottoes. I’d love to go back and explore some more.

Then we went back to a high tea prepared by Matt’s dad: sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream and cake. Lovely!!

Taking a rest in the gothic cottage

 Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 3 Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 1

Day Forty One 

Today was a big family day with a double birthday celebration. Lots of lovely food and good company.

 Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0 Cake: lots  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 1

Day Forty Two

Another play date with one of Sofia’s old nursery friends. A lovely lunch and lots of outdoor (and indoor) play. It was lovely that Maria and Gabby were very included. A very nice day and mummy got to have some Prosecco too!

 Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 3  Cake: 1 Meringues: 3 Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Forty Three

Last day of the holidays, and today we had a meet up with Sofia’s old reception class and headed out to Kent’s Swanley Park. It is billed as a traditional town park set in 60 acres of landscaped parkland. 

We parked up and got the miniature public railway into the park, which the children all loved, as did I if I’m being honest.

The weather was decidedly iffy; sunny and warm one minute and raining and chilly the next, so we had a big job preventing them going into the paddling pool and splash park. The girls headed straight over to the bouncy castle, which was £1.20 per child, but didn’t go on the battery-powered bikes as Maria and Gabby were too little. We then spent some time in the small children’s play area and sandpit before grabbing some lunch. Then we hit the cafeteria. It didn’t have the healthiest of food options, but they were plentiful and VERY child friendly if you know what I mean.

Next it was off to the main play area, which has really nice apparatus. We spent quite a lot of time there an then it was time for ice creams and ice lollies.

The children then spotted the collection of bouncy castles and inflatables. It was £7 per child for entrance, but as we were a big group they reduced it to £5. Still, £15 for my three on top of everything else was a little steep and a few activities within the section needed additional payment. Maria and Gabby weren’t tall enough for the best inflatable (the huge slide). I wasn’t overly impressed but the kids really enjoyed it.

The park also boasts a big boating lake with pedal and rowing boats and canoes. We’d all really have loved to go on, but time was pressing and we’d spent quite a bit of money.

I wish we’d had done more walking around the park itself as opposed to just going to a number of different attractions, but that’s what the children wanted to do and they had a really brilliant last day of holidays.

So, goodbye summer holidays and hello labelled uniform and school bag and new shiny shoes by the front door.

The summer holidays have seen 34 ice creams, 42 ice lollies, 45 bickerings, 11 arguments, 11 tantrums and visits to London, Surrey, Kent, Wiltshire, West Sussex, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.  

• Read part I here
• Read part II here

The post Diary of 43 Days of School Holidays: Part III appeared first on The Parent Social.

Day Eighteen

The big drive today from Surrey to Cornwall for a week’s holiday. It should have taken about four hours but took seven and a half instead. However, we had plenty of food, Matt had downloaded some of the childrens’ favourite programmes and we played many rounds of a great game called Are We There Yet?, which I much preferred to I Spy. They were very good and it could have been a lot worse. Amazingly no arguments or tantrums!

Lolly pit stop

When we arrived at the property it had been worth the long drive. The view was stunning.

We sorted ourselves out and chose rooms. The house is in Widemouth Bay and is literally a five minute walk to the beach. We were already on holiday time as it was 7pm, which is approaching usual bedtime, and we were just heading out for a beach walk. We had a bit of a makeshift tea after a lovely walk.

Red wine, cheese, pate, bread and Scrabble for Matt and I once they were in bed.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 4 (including mine)  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0 

Day Nineteen

The weather didn’t look great. Following a leisurely start we took a drive across the border into Devon  and to the lovely Hartland Quay. After going down to the quay, doing a bit of stone skimming and getting a soaking we met family for a big Sunday roast.

After that we headed out to Northam Burrows Country Park  near Westwood Ho! There’s a small toll to pay and then you take the road through grassland towards the beach. We encountered lots of sheep and horses (who got up very close and personal) and a few golfers before getting to the car park.

This close to the car!

Then it was buckets and spades, boule set and football out and onto the beach. The weather had cheered up a bit. We all went for a paddle and the girls loved running away from the encroaching water and generally getting pretty wet again. We played a lot of games and spent several very nice hours on a rather windy beach.

Ice creams: 3  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 1  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 2

Day Twenty 

It was absolutely hammering it down in the morning, but we headed out in any case with the first port of call being an early lunch at the St. Kew Inn in St. Kew. We had a really lovely meal, which was very fish and shellfish heavy and by the time we came out it was stunning.

Before…

and after

We had a look around the local church and then picked up some lobsters and crabs for dinner from nearby The Crab Shack. After that we headed to the beautiful Polzeath beach via Boscastle.

Polzeath beach

Polzeath beach

The surfers were out in force and by now the suncream was needed. Amazing to think the weather had changed so much. The girls had a wonderful time at the beach. Then it was back home for a family dinner for nine. The lobster and crab was fantastic.

Ice creams: 3  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty One 

We went back to near Hartland to meet up with Matt’s mum and dad who are staying near there and went to the quay. We messed about in the rock pools and used the nets we’d bought. The tide was coming in very fast, which provided its own entertainment as the girls were chased back.

Scorchio in Hartland

We went into the pretty little village of Hartland itself for some lunch. Ironically I had my first Cornish pasty of the trip whilst in Devon. Then we headed back into Cornwall to Bude. We played some pitch and putt, which was a first for the girls (and the first time for me since I was about 10!) and then went to the cafe for ice creams, tea and cake

Pitch and putt was a winner

Ice creams: 3  Milk shakes: 1 Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 3  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Two

Today we want back into Devon to visit Clovelly. The village is privately owned and is completely vehicle free. It costs £6.95 per adult and children  (ages 7 to16) are £4.35;  under 7s are free. However, I reckon it’s worth it. It’s one of the most chocolate box, picturesque villages you’ll ever see.

Just before the descent into the village

We walked down the very steep cobbles in blazing sunshine taking in the cute little cottages, looking in on the Fisherman’s cottage with artefacts that Sofia was particularly interested in.

Our lunch spot

We broke up the walk with a nice lunch at The Cottage Tea Rooms and then continued our walk down to the harbour and had another paddle. Then it was off to the Red Lion in the harbour for some refreshments before getting a rather exciting Land Rover ride back up (at the specific request of Matt who was nursing a beach football injury).

Down to the harbour for a paddle

We paid a visit to the gift shops and then headed back home. Family came over for dinner, but we headed to Widemouth Bay for a bit of a run around and beach fun before eating.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Three 

The day was meant to be a right off weather-wise with torrential rain forecast for the entirety. However, it stopped quite early in the morning so we seized the opportunity to go for a walk. Matt’s older brother and his family were camping at Stoke Barton Farm and Campsite in Devon, so that’s where we began our walk.

A bit breezy at St. Catherine’s Tor.

It was a lovely walk that took in plenty of farm animals, stunning coastline, wildlife and St. Catherine’s Tor, where we stopped for snacks and a photo opportunity.

After lunch it was back to Widemouth Bay to go and collect scallops and more lobsters for dinner before some crazy golf in Bude with the girls’ aunt, uncle and cousins.

Finally, a lovely dinner followed by plenty of card games. Knock is Sofia’s new favourite game.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Four

Not a great day for outdoor activities so it was bowling en masse in Bude. The girls have only been bowling once before and absolutely loved it so were very excited to be doing it again.

After that it was a cafe lunch in Widemouth Bay and then a walk on the beach. It was pretty blustery so I sat this expedition out and left Matt and the girls to it.

Port Isaac

Late afternoon we went to the pretty little fishing village of Port Isaac. Sea shanty group Fisherman’s Friends (native to Port Isaac) were playing there in the evening and Matt’s family were keen to see them (as were many other people!). I was very keen to visit Port Isaac generally, so it all worked out nicely. We had some food, bought some goodies from the fudge shop, had a wonder and then had a drink at the pub before the gig. There was a really great vibe to the place and we all really enjoyed our visit. My only disappointment was that we didn’t get to eat at Nathan Outlaw’s place.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Chocolate and fudge: quite a lot  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Five

We vacated our lovely holiday home and got on the road. Thankfully we weren’t doing the whole trip home; we were stopping the night at friends in Somerset for a bit of a uni reunion for Matt. We got there early afternoon and the adults partied until 3am. It was good. The hosts have three girls of similar age to ours and another friend had a mother girl. They absolutely loved it and had a trampoline, sweet and TV-fuelled party of their own until 10pm.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Sweets: off the dial  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 1  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Six

Following a morning of playing with friends, an extremely boring day of travelling and unpacking.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Seven

Post-holiday chores done in the morning so we headed out after lunch to do a few things including buy a birthday present for one of Sofia’s friends. I let the girls go into their favourite shop (Claire’s Accessories). After a lot of deliberating Sofia treated herself to something. I hadn’t planned to, but decided to brave Clarks to see if we could get Sofia’s school shoes. To my amazement we were seen immediately and managed to make a successful purchase.

I’d bought water balloons in the toyshop earlier so they came straight out once we got back.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 3  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Eight

Today it was back to the Epsom and Leatherhead Multiples Club. Although the oldest by some way, Sofia loves it when she gets the chance to go outside of term time. This week had the additional draw of a bouncy castle. There was lots of colouring, sticking, playing and bouncing.

Afterwards, we went to Pizza Express for lunch. The chain is very accomplished at catering for kids, which is just as well as the place was rammed with them (all behaving I should point out)!

After a hearty three courses we headed to the library. Sofia has completed five out of her six books for The Summer Reading Challenge 2015, so it was time to collect some of her stickers and also her key ring, which she was very pleased about. We also took out a load more books.

Quite a bad day for arguments though!!

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 3  Minor bickerings: 1  Arguments: 4  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Nine

I had to work so the girls had a few hours with our childminder. They love it so much, not least playing with her two year old. They had a picnic in the park that they were very excited to tell me about.

After that we headed into Kingston-Upon-Thames to get school uniform. We were the only ones in the Back to School section and were done and dusted in a few minutes. I was expecting a nightmare.

To counter the boredom of that we paid a visit to Paperchase. The girls have certainly inherited my love of stationery. Then it was off for ice-creams – the good stuff – at Gelateria Danieli.

Ice creams: 3  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 1  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty 

Today we headed back to West Sussex and to Tilgate Park with a friend of mine and her daughter. It’s a huge park with multiple lakes, a walled garden, a nature centre, adventure playground, Go Ape and probably a lot of stuff we didn’t see.

We started with a picnic and feeding the ducks and then it was off to the adventure playground, which they loved. Sofia was itching to get involved with Go Ape, but even if she was big enough the others weren’t. Luckily the adventure playground kept them entertained for quite some time. Afterwards we headed to the maze. They were all absolute monkeys in there; it has little child-sized holes cut into the hedges. All the kids took full advantage and kept disappearing. Fortunately they were laughing and shouting so much we were able to find them.

After we’d had enough of chasing them around we hit the cafe for lollies and ice creams.

We finished up with a visit to the nature centre. The otters and pigs were firm favourites, but they loved feeding the goats with leaves they picked themselves. We also visited the bee hives, which we all found interesting.

I would definitely like to go back and probably arrive earlier as I think there was a lot more to explore.

Ice creams: 1  Ice lollies: 3  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty One

Today was a day to play in the garden. I’d foolishly bought a bumper back of water balloons so it was a change into swimming costumes and an hour of getting each other soaking wet.

In the afternoon it was an impromptu playdate with the little girl next door: someone else’s toys, lots of bubbles, chalk pictures and playing with her pet rabbit and dog. They didn’t want to leave. Things are always so much more interesting at someone else’s house!

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

• • Read part I here
  • Read part III here

The post Diary of 43 Days of School Holidays: Part II appeared first on The Parent Social.

I do a lot of home cooking with fresh ingredients, avoid salt and sugar where possible and provide plenty of fruit and veg when catering for my children. In fact, tonight they had a minestrone that included tomatoes, cabbage, celery, carrots, potatoes and cannellini beans. However, they are allowed treats, and we do have Fish Finger days when we’re really busy and there simply isn’t enough time before bed to incorporate everything. All to say, they have a very good diet probably 90% of the time.

Packed lunches and school dinners

We went on a picnic today with lots of other mums and children from the Epsom and Leatherhead Multiples Club. In my childrens’ lunch boxes there were pitas stuffed with salami and then pieces of cheddar cheese, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, humus, carrot batons, blueberries and…dum, dum, dum cocktail sausages. Salami is fatty and salty and ditto for cocktail sausages. They love them however (as do I) but eat just as much of the good stuff as these more ‘dubious’ items. It’s about common sense and balance.  Would I have have been reprimanded about these items in a school lunch box? I doubt it. However it would have been a massive tut tut if I’d included a packet of crisps or some chocolate buttons. There is an air of double standards and nowhere more so than school dinners.

I find it rather ludicrous that there are so many guidelines about school packed lunches; the dos and don’ts.

School dinners

My eldest has a school lunch every day. We had a talk about the catering at her school before she started. They talked about all the hidden veg they included in their meals, and it was apparent they provided many healthy items.

However, alongside the virtuous stuff, there are puddings such as arctic roll, chocolate brownie and choc ice. There’s also a decent smattering of burgers, pizza and chips on the menu. I don’t demand that all sweet items or potato-based products are removed from the dinner menu as I know, on the whole, the school dinners are balanced, nutritious and varied. I also know that they are supplemented at home with very good meals most of the time. So why is it acceptable to be reprimanded about the odd packet of Pom-Bears? I’m pretty sure that very few children are being sent to school with nothing but a can of Coke and a few sweets in their lunch boxes. As the fussiest of eaters as a child and very thin, my mum was always delighted if I’d scoffed a Cadbury’s Flake alongside a triangle of sandwich.

Common sense and balance

My children have some choices regarding food and on quite a few occasions the opportunity to have something they consider a treat. I think this is an  important and part of childhood. Do they sit all day mainlining Haribo and Fruit Shoots? No. They LOVE fruit and will always go and help themselves to some from the fruit bowl if they’re feeling peckish (it’s their first port of call for a snack), but equally will pounce on a biscuit if it’s offered. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The post The lunchbox (debate) has landed again – packed lunches appeared first on The Parent Social.

Starting school

My husband Matt took the day off work, and as it was a 9.45am start we had a leisurely breakfast before I went upstairs and helped get Sofia into her uniform: a real rite of passage.  We came back down and had a little photo shoot (obviously I did the obligatory posting onto Facebook).

The five of us went up to the school and were personally greeted by the Deputy Head a couple of minutes early (we were a little eager!). I hadn’t realised that each child had a designated slot, so it was a nice surprise to have this time dedicated to us. We were escorted to the cloakroom, given a run through of what she needed to do and were then taken to Sofia’s class and delivered to her teacher. Sofia’s teacher immediately introduced her to the morning routine, had a few comforting words to say to us, and then that was it, we said goodbye. It was a slick operation but carried out in a very compassionate manner.  I had absolutely no worries about leaving her.

First morning

The four of us then headed straight off to go and check out a venue for Sofia’s next birthday party. Her birthday isn’t until December, but last year taught me that forward planning is key Planning a child’s birthday party.

We had to run a few errands so didn’t bother going back home as it was a 12pm pick up.  In no time at all we were on our way back to collect her.

Semi-disaster struck; we were five minutes from the school at a very busy crossroads and the traffic lights were out. It was chaos. I ended up queued outside of the classroom door at 12.02pm. The children were still coming out one by one as I got there so Sofia wasn’t sat on her own. However, she was the last one to be collected #FAIL. I felt really terrible. Matt thought I was insane.

Second day

We needed to be at the school for 8.50am. Once again it was a 12pm pick up, so a nice gentle start. My dad’s been brilliant. He comes over in the mornings to sit with the twins whilst I walk Sofia to school. It takes a lot of the stress out of it.

However, I still seemed to panic on Monday morning. There was no designated slot, going in via the office in our little bubble for a lovely meet and greet. Instead it was the bun fight of the school run. I didn’t know what gate to queue up at and what the protocol was. I was stressing so much that we left very early. We were second out of the entire school at the gate. I asked the lady in front what the procedure was. She was with her grandson and had no idea. A kindly mum behind overheard and said that the other gate was best for Sofia’s class. Phew. I knew what we were doing and no longer felt like the ‘new girl’.

At 8.50am someone came out and unlocked the gate. There was a semblance of politeness. However, we were all chomping at the bit to get in and to the cloakroom. It was pandemonium. I looked at the narrow, single door opening and breathed a massive sigh of relief that I didn’t have the double buggy with me.

Three days in

I’m actually feeling slightly overawed and it’s not about Sofia settling in; she’s taken to it like the proverbial duck.

I didn’t get the memo about bringing in photos from their summer holidays, so I did emergency printouts and then spent an evening labelling and sticky back plastic-ing.

On Sofia’s first day, I received a letter about the first PTA meeting, which is this Thursday, and another letter about Jeans for Genes day this Friday (must remember no uniform). Then there’s a reading meeting next week.

Today I received the September newsletter, which includes all of the important dates for the Autumn term and is two pages long: meetings, assemblies, quiz nights, costumes to be made, harvest festival; and don’t even get started on the Christmas activities. I’ve just spent over half an hour putting everything on the calendar. Then there was the NHS questionnaire.

My head is spinning!

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