A new school year

September 1st is New Year's day.   More than January 1st, it is the (re)start of new things and the end of well known things. It's a day where a lot of parents take (part of ) the day off to guide their children into a new journey, where all need to post their joy and tears and stress or relief on social media. 

So did I...these are the pictures that I posted online at 8 AM. Kabouter seemed happy and relax to go to school and start his 2nd year in Kindergarden.






At work and online I got a dozen times the question how the transition went for him and how the "back to reality" for me as parent was going. I found the question rather weird as it didn't feel like an extra-ordinary day at all.   Rationally, as an adult, I knew this was a symbolic big milestone again for Kabouter. And I wanted to have pictures from that milestone. Aditionnally it's fun to have a comparison with the pictures from last year and next years.

But organisationally nothing changed. As we have worked all summer, Kabouter went each day to either a daycare, toddler camp or playground service.  So we didn't sleep in, we had to prepare a lunch box, we had a deadline.  And Kabouter asked each day "where do I go today? who comes to get me tonight? ", ... Today the answer was "school".

On all of those camps, playgrounds, etc he saw each day at least 3 children and probably sometimes up to 8 children from his class. So going back to school was not the big reunion either.  In the last weeks a group of them had even spent an afternoon on the school playground and school gardens and they had seen the school teachers preparing their class room again ...so no big reunion and return either.

I think the big change will hit us only after a few weeks, when we all realise that after one week of school, there is another one and another one...no more puzzle of alternating activities   and a bit more discipline and a bell that rings sooner.  
No more looking in the agenda where to drop off Kabouter anymore is a welcome change though. Routine can be nice. 

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