With my second child on the edge of giant change from a small primary to a large secondary, it makes me think about how I need to support him at this challenging time. I already have another child already at secondary so am quite relaxed about the transfer, but I am not my son. I am not the one who will need to make new friends, get to and from classes all over the school and survive in the big new school. I am not the one who must remember the right books, not loose my PE kit, listen to the teacher when they hand out homework instructions and remember to do that homework on time.
I can support my children by having a copy of their timetable where I can see it every morning to help them with the pre school check.
I can insist that we have a visible list that all homework is written on with due dates, and that each day we check it together.
I will have tea ready when they get home to refuel them after their long day. I will not ask them about their day until they have had some down time unless they want to talk about it straight away.
Lastly I will have all their uniform named and ready for the start of term. I will set a good example of calm and organisation. And I will always be there for a hug and reassurance.
Tag Archives: uniform
Tender Flames by Stephanie Hurt
Read “Tender Flames” by Stephanie Hurt last night on Kindle. A lovely easy read romance set in the world of horses and ranchfolk.
In my own world of writing the flow of words to laptop has been extremely slow due to the school holidays. But the ideas are buzzing and as September approaches and the start of the new school year looms, I’m sure the hours spent typing will begin again. I’ve got plenty of material lined up for “The Farmer” and shouting for attention at the back are the characters for “More Talk of the Playground” I’m sure if I don’t hurry up with that one then Good old Glenda Glossop will have something to say about that!
As a parent I have a whole pile of things to achieve before term starts. I haven’t started the name labelling of all the new uniform and we still have shoes to buy and other bits and pieces, plus everyone needs an eye test and a hair cut! We’ve certainly been in “chill-out” mode. Time to put down the cricket bats, pack up the picnics (well perhaps there’s time for just a few more!) and step back up a gear!
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
An easy read romance, I thought I had guessed the ending, but there was as unseen twist. This is the second book I have read from Stephanie, looking forward to her next one.
View all my reviews
Moonbeam & Roses by Stephanie Hurt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Great easy read romance, guessed the ending from a long way off, thought more twists would make it popular.
Progress, progress
Getting down to writing a book has a great sense of achievement for me. Firstly I am loving what I am doing, I get a great buzz from it.
So how are things are going? Well I’m no techno expert which is all part of the challenge. I can’t upload a picture to this blog yet, but I’m determined to get over that hurdle! Last minute details for my characters need adding and a few other touch ups.
Meanwhile I am still a full-time mother, so domestic life must continue. Having decided to stop moaning about the housework because I am the only one who gets upset by either the moaning or the state of the house, I’m breezing through the backlog. Homework and revision still need to be done by the children. Nearly messed up big time when I only remembered on Friday that it was Fathers Day today, but managed to buy a prezzie and card on behalf of the kids. Got home to scan the calender for the next week to make sure I was up to date with everything and realised we had a friend with a birthday on Saturday! No worries! I had a few spare blank cards and a (very expensive) first class stamp, so that disaster was avoided. Checking the number of events written and crossed out for today and realised that it was also our wedding anniversary! Bother, I knew the 17th rang a bell! Oh well, fingers crossed that I can cheekily say the Fathers Day prezzie covered both, and hope hubbie hadn’t got me much.
Playground parent: This is where I’ll do my piece about school, education etc. So this week there is the issue of government proposals to re-form pre-school education. Reports are out from academics in Regensburg University, Germany and their fellows from Otago University, New Zealand, about childrens performance in school. They have compared hundreds of children who began school at different ages and compared their abilities. Children who started school at age 7 performed just as well as those who started school at 5, and some out-shone their peers!
This is timely when our own government wants to put more emphasis on the 3R’s at an earlier age, and wishes to set targets for children to achieve before their 5th birthday.
What do you think? is there too much pressure on our children?
Lastly; Bringing it all back to reality in the playground: M&S had 20% off all school uniform when I was there on Friday. Look out for more bargains as other stores want your business too.
Rosie Amber 