Michelle's blog: Back to school

It has been 167 days in the making but the day is finally here, new uniform has been labelled and ironed, hair has been put up, breakfast made extra early and the school run has been completed – my daughter is back at school! This, of course, comes with very mixed emotions:

• Concern that after so long she will settle back into the school routine, and after all our practising will be brave enough to lock the bathroom door
• Happy that she will finally get to see her friends and have some form of normality back in her life
• Sad that I won’t see her happy little face bopping around the house during my working day, giving me a cuddle and kiss whilst I’m concentrating too hard on an email or her apologising for trumping loudly during a zoom call
• But above all, an overwhelming sense of relief that after 119 work days I can finally switch on my computer and have an uninterrupted day of work!!

To say it’s been a difficult time is an understatement. Trying to juggle work alongside home-schooling, enforced walks and leisure activities, meals, tantrums, anxiety and combatting a 7 year olds complete and utter boredom has been nothing short of impossible. At the school gates this morning you would sense a collective sigh of relief as happy children flooded through the gates to see long-lost friends as 5 and a half months for primary aged children feels like a lifetime.

I’m perhaps one of the lucky ones, I know my daughter attends a school which is relatively small, very nurturing and where I have no concerns over whether she will be kept safe but I do genuinely believe all schools will continue to do their utmost to provide a safe environment for our children during these strange times.

So, to parents in the same position as me everywhere, have a brew, take a deep breath, relax, look at your to-do list with enthusiasm and not dread because we have at least 5 and a half hours of peace before the next school run.