Today my Daughter started year one.  Meaning she’s been at her primary school a whole year. That’s crazy! She’s no longer a newbie. She’s mixing with the big kids in the school yard. She no longer has her own little self enclosed part of the school where kids and parents alike could mix in a nice comfy reception sized bubble. All day I’ve been finding myself both reflecting and looking forward to seeing what this new school year brings.

Reception

I remember this time last year reading a few parenting blogs about how their kids had changed since starting school.  I was excited and also very nervous about this. How would my own Daughter change? A year ago she was quite shy, had only just started to get comfortable with her writing and had never done more that two whole days in education.

Well, looking back now I can’t believe how much she’s changed.  Obviously she’s grown and we, like most parents I’d imagine, have done the whole photo comparison thing. But she’s also come on so well in a number of different ways.  Her reading and writing have improved dramatically.  Her conversational ability often makes me forget she’s only 5.  Some of the stuff she comes out with is brilliant.  She just seems to absorb everything that goes on around her.

Emotionally it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster.  There’s been a couple of fairly big struggles with her that have taken a few weeks to get through. They’ve mainly revolved around being obsessed with needing to go to the toilet. So much so that at times it affected what we were doing on the weekends. I was so worried that it was borderline anxiety and we did monitor the situation carefully but she seemed to come though it all ok.

One things that definitely improved is her confidence.  The shy little toddler has well and truly disappeared. This has also come with it’s own concerns around the whole “stranger danger” thing as she so comfortable talking to adults and loves to pet dogs (after first checking their child friendly) when we’re out and about.

After-school clubs have also been a success.  iBear has given the reception friendly “Team Games” a go for the whole year and enjoyed it for the most part.  She finished off with a glowing school report and we are so proud of how she’s handled the whole experience.

A welcome few weeks off

Our first experience of the six weeks holidays has been an overall success I would say.  Somewhat surprisingly so.  We’re very lucky to have a Nana and a Grandma and Grandad more than happy to help out with childcare.  We try not to ask too much of them but they all willingly volunteered to help us out. So, we ended up having iBear go away without us for three separate mini holidays. We’ve never both been away from her more than a couple of nights so this was a big thing for us.

What did she get up to?

The first week she spent away in a caravan with her Nana.  We joined them for the weekend and it proved to be a success apart from one night of sickness. (more than likely over indulgence). During the time iBear was away we managed to do adult stuff like go for a meal and visit the cinema.  The usual stuff you used to take for granted!

Week 2 saw a mix of day trips with everyone chipping in before the three of us (the “house family” as iBear calls us) headed off a week in Portsmouth for week 3.  We had a brilliant time there and I have a post in draft devoted to this. Maybe one day I’ll finish it…

Week 4 was the turn of Grandma and Grandad and they took iBear away for three nights.  This time my wife and I decided to use the time to chill and catch up with house stuff. It was at this point things started feeling a little strange and out of step with our usual routine.

Week 5 was day trips again and week 6 was another few days away with Grandma and Grandad.  This time I missed iBear a lot.  I do love having free time to myself and a chance to unwind but this felt too much.  I couldn’t wait to have her back home.  She’d had the time of her life but I was looking forward to getting back to normal.

The next chapter

And so we arrive at the start of another school year.  iBear was pretty chilled about going in today.  I on the other hand was pretty nervous. All the emotions of this time last year came flooding back. We took her down to school and watched her wandering the yard waiting for the school bell to sound.  In typical iBear fashion she was the only one in the whole school to leave her bag and coat on one of the tables in the yard as they all lined up. It was with a wry smile and a shake of the head we watched a teacher pick up said items and follow her in.

I fully expected iBear to use the now famous expression of “I can’t remember” when describing her day when we saw her this evening.  Amazingly we heard about a whole number of things – she’d had a brilliant day.

My favourite moment was when she described becoming “BFF”s with another girl in her class for the day. Where has she even heard that before?

One Dads View

I’ve no idea what the next year will bring but as I always say, if she has fun and tries her best, everything will be fine.