When everyday life has other plans for you.

This year my world changed drastically. I officially entered the phase of my life where I will be forever known as ‘school-mum’. No longer can I grab any old clothes out of my daughter’s drawers and toss them to her in-between throwing Weetbix in a bowl and realising we’re out of milk. No longer can we sleep in and turn up at child-care at ten am (not that we were supposed to do that anyway). No longer can I leave the afternoon pick-up until six in order to get that last bit of work done before rushing out the door.

Nope, it’s time to be organised. I need to plan ahead. I need to remember to wear my watch.

Around the time the hot cross buns replaced the mince pies in Coles, I started to panic. Once school started, things were going to get hectic, especially with only one car between us and four separate destinations each morning.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by CHUX. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.

The week before Maddie started school, we started trying to get up earlier in the mornings. She practised putting on her uniform and school shoes, and I practised packing her lunch-box. I wanted to be early for her first day – I wanted to have plenty of time to take photos and enjoy the excitement of the day. Unfortunately that week, life had other plans for me. A few copywriting jobs came in and I spent each night staying up until one or two in the morning working. The night before school was due to start, when I stumbled to bed past midnight, I promised myself I would get up super early and do all the preparation I had meant to do that night: make Maddie’s lunch, pack the school bag and the child care bag, check her uniform was ready to go.

The next morning we slept in.

Typical.

Typ. I. Cal.

That’s okay, I thought, I can cope: move fast, take a 60 second shower, glass of juice for breakfast… we can still make this work.

While my husband tried to convince our three-year-old, Piper to get out of bed and come and eat some breakfast, I threw together a ham and cheese sandwich, and searched through the fridge and pantry for healthy school lunch snacks. How much food does she need? Will the teacher judge me if it’s not all home made? That’s when I swung Maddie’s school bag up onto the bench, hit the glass of juice, which tipped forward splashing juice everywhere and then rolled off the bench and smashed onto the tiles. As I shouted out for bare-feet kids to stay away from the kitchen, I looked over in time to see the juice seeping its way into the sandwich I’d just made.

Don’t ask me how, but we made it to school a respectable ten minutes late. We snapped a few shots with Maddie outside the classroom door, and we sent her in with a hug and no tears. Yes it was a completely mad morning, but that’s life and that’s being a Mum – there will always be things that go wrong, but you’ll also always cope.

That afternoon when I picked up Maddie I saw another kindy mum and asked how her son’s first day went. “Not bad until Jake threw up in the classroom – all over his uniform, bag and hat.”

At least I knew I wasn’t the only one having that sort of a day.

Do you remember if your child’s first day of school went to plan? 

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