Starting school: ten things that are currently terrifying me

So my child is starting school – THIS MONTH, IT’S THIS MONTH, HOW HAS THIS HAPPENED SO QUICKLY, WASN’T SHE JUST BORN – and here are ten things that are completely terrifying me.

Just to note it’s things that are terrifying me about my child starting primary school, not my child. I’m swinging wildly between thinking it’ll be FINE to thinking it’ll be terrible, and feeling terribly sad about it to also looking forward to having all that time. But mainly, I’m terrified.

She seems OK about starting school, but what if she’s not, arghhh…you get my train of thought.

The school run: Leaving the house with small children is a struggle. Leaving the house in time for school? Really, really hard (hi to all the other families always running to the school gate just in time). But what about leaving the house in time for school with *two* school children, who both need uniform and brushed hair and teeth and bookbags and breakfast and ties, while you’re dying for a cup of tea and can’t find the hairbrush, and you can’t just usher them out of the door knowing you’ll be back five minutes later? The school run is hard and terrifying enough without double the pressure. The school gate and its silent judgement looms large.

What happens if she hates it? I hope she won’t, I don’t think she will, but what happens if she does?!

What happens when she realises it’s five days a week? Nursery was always two days a week, meaning three days at home together. But school is five full days, and I’m worried this will be a shock. To both of us.

What happens when she realises it’s forever? Or until 18. Or 21. But you know what I mean.

What happens when she needs a snack at 9.05? Will ‘can I have a snack?’ be her first question?

Have I forgotten something? Uniform, book bags, forest school, slips, starting dates, phased starts, why is there so much to remember?

What happens when I forget something? It’s one of those inevitable life facts that you probably will drop one or some of all of the balls when your child starts school, because there is so much to do and know and remember. And now with two children at school there will be double the balls flying all over the place, hitting me in the head.

Have we got the uniform right? This is very real fear to me because first time we got the uniform wrong, twice (here). And while no-one else noticed, I felt I had a big, lit-up sign above my head saying ‘FRAUD’ in neon letters. This time round I think we’ve got it all right, but what if it’s wrong? And have we labelled everything? Do the labels need labelling? Where did I even hide the labels?!

(If you’re still to stock up on uniform read my tips on buying school uniform).

Have we done enough? The days are long but the years are short, they say about parenting. Which is annoying when it’s 9am and you’ve been up since 4.22am with two crying tiny children and you’ve already eaten lunch and watched a years’ worth of CBeebies through a haze of your exhausted tears. But breath-takingly truthful when you’re just about to take your baby, your tiny baby, to big school.

So my big worry…have we done enough with the time we’d had at home? Have we been to enough places-that-are-likely-to-be-packed on the holidays? Have we made enough of the time pre-school? I think we have, but the worry is still there.

What happens if I cry so much on the first day, it’s actually embarrassing? Sunglasses at the ready. Waaaa.

More starting school posts…school run hacks with IKEA and what not to when your child starts school