And Breath…….

I think I say this every year but I am always so glad when it’s the end of the summer holidays. Don’t get me wrong I do actually enjoy the summer holidays with the children and I know I am very lucky to be able to spend the time with them. But 6 whole weeks or more like 8 if they are in college is an awfully long time. There is only so many film afternoons you can do trips to here ans there. Money doesn’t grow on trees nor does it suddenly sprout from nowhere in the holidays.

Routines go out the window no matter how many times you declare you won’t be staying up late and getting up late every day. You may even get as organised as to make a list of all the things you want to get done in the holidays. Only to re-find the list the day before the holidays end with nothing crossed off. Then there is the dreaded book or school bag that mysteriously disappears till the day before they go back and you find all the letters. All those letters asking you to do this and that with your child over the holidays that you have no hope of cramming in the last 12 hours.

Every year as the school breaks up for the holidays I solemnly promise not to leave uniform and school stuff shopping to the last minute. Every year I want to leave it one more week as they don’t have sprout up in the holidays. And you guessed it every year I am the mother trying to get uniform in the last few days.

This year see’s my youngest start his last year. As usual the uniform run was in the last few days but this year I had the added hurdle of the teen turning trendy. Aggghhhh . Trendy and school uniform just do not go in the same sentence. So to say I was amazed is an understatement when I went uniform shopping at George at Asda. Not only did I find his size in shirts in stock and on the shelf they also had his trendy shoes in leather and the oh so skinny trousers in too.

This time next year I won’t have any children in school. For so many years our lives have revolved around school uniforms, lost ties, school meetings and everything else it’s going to be strange not to have to do it anymore. A nice strange as new chapters start but also a tinge of sadness that its all done.