And so the onslaught begins….

One full week of school completed. Yay! Items added to the ‘family’ calendar (which only I seem to check): 32. What? How is so much going on already? We’ve barely got started yet. But, with guitar lessons, football training, work meetings and Son#1 now undertaking Further Maths this year ‘just for fun’, there is suddenly something going on every day of the week, except Thursdays (when we are all exhausted and grumpy). I really feel for the parents of those kids just starting school this year; little do they know the plethora of stuff to remember coming their way.

Don’t get me wrong; I like being busy (to an extent) and do encourage the kids to do ‘stuff’, but trying to fit in dog walks, sort out homecooked dinners when we are all around at different times and keep tabs on homework, who’s got tests on what days and when we need PE kits is brain scrambling.

Add to the mix an insanely busy time at work for OH, who has been in the room, but very much not in the conversation, and it’s been possibly the busiest start to the school year so far. I have a sneaky feeling that this year (when Son#1 is due to take his final GCSE exams) may prove to be the maddest yet. So strap in!

A new timetable

Thankfully, the kids are pretty good at remembering what is going on these days and organising themselves most of the time, but I need to get my head around this new family timetable. Friends with older children have often described the chaos of trying to organise a simple family meal, with parents working, teenagers on their own schedule and life commitments, and I am starting to see that this is the next phase for our family too. 

Son#1 is talking about university more and more and looking forward to the next exciting chapter of his life and we are having more and more conversations about learning to cook proper food (although tbf, he could live on fruit, toast and stir fry) and learning to do the washing ‘properly’ – ie remove it from the machine when it is clean and hang it straight up to dry, rather than leave it to grow new bacteria.

Family time

Having had a childhood which was (at the time) not very traditional in many ways, I have always tried to create a stable and calm home life for our kids, and placed a big onus on spending time together, sharing meals and trying to keep Sundays as sacred family days. However, it seems that times are a-changing. More and more we are spending time out and about with the kids at home entertaining themselves, and it is no longer necessary to drag everyone along to every single event of the week.

But the changes aren’t all bad; me off at football training with one child gives the older two a chance to practice some new skills throwing together a family meal, emptying the dishwasher or even running the hoover round (alright, I’m getting carried away now). Maybe they will appreciate it more when we are all there together (if we can get them all in one room at once). Hopefully, we can find time for some fun family meals this year and have a laugh about the intricacies of our day every so often. And if not, your dinner’s in the oven.

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