How do us parents REALLY feel when they go back to school?

So they have been back at school for some for a week or so now.

On the first few days of term, this was circulating the old Facebook timeline-y thang….

I sort of smiled when I saw it, and did the done thang and shared it.

Then I actually sat down and thought about how I REALLY felt about my kids going back to school.

It wasn’t remotely like that – and I don’t mean I didn’t feel all orange, hairy, and prone to scratching my bum. I also didn’t mean that I was running through the house celebrating with my pants on my head and a bottle of gin in my hand.

Actually, it was just a wee bit rubbish. Where were my play mates? Where was that loud noise coming from the lounge while I was trying to work? Granted, some of that noise was not actually something I was missing; the sound of bickering is enough to squash any ounce of creativity that I had remaining at fifty paces.

However, without the sound of kids playing the house felt eerily empty, it also meant I had no more bl**dy excluses not to be wokring, rather than sitting down:
(a) Making a paper aeroplane
(b) Playing Monopoly for the fiftieth time, or
(c) In my PJs all day until embarrasingly having to open the door to the postman at 5.30pm. Only slightly mind, I still have my pride despite having had kids *who am I kidding.*

In other words, though it is great that I can concerntrate on working again, the two weeks (ish) that I had off was rather nice, and my kids were great company. They are now 7 and 9, and we have some great conversations, and lots of fun together. My daughter in particular can be wonderful company. My son still bounces rather a lot, so it can be wuite hard to work out what he is saying something….

I was rather sad that they had gone back, and it had left me feeling a little bit bereft.

I wondered if there were any other parents who really didn’t have that Orangutan feeling, so I ask on Facebook and got over 60 single word replies from my profile and my KiddyCharts blog page…

I wasn’t alone.

Parents do feel relieved when they kids go back to school, but mostly they feel sad, lonely and a bit rubbish just like me.

It’s OK to have mixed feeling about it all, we are all different, and though “Sad” is the most popular feeling, there runs a gamut of emotions, and not just in individuals either. My sadness was also tainted with the relief that I wouldn’t have to negotiate with the kids anymore, well until after school at least…

So it is OK to be relieved and happy, and shout hurray. It is also OK to feel lonely and sad.

We all have different priorities over the holidays, and many of us have to work around those little people. It can be incredibly stressful trying to keep our work going, particularly if you are self-employed, while cooking, keeping a house, and entertaining a six year old. Back to school means less stress in that situation, so is it any wonder that some of us cheer?

It IS wonderful to think though that no matter how you feel about it all, there is bound to be another parent the feels the same, and we aren’t all Orangutans having a boogie on the first day back. What we are all doing, I hope, is loving our kids for who they are; whether they are exasperating, cute, or just down right blooming impossible.

Helen

Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine! Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on. Get in touch TODAY!

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