'It's about to get real: A word of warning for first-time school parents'

"I now appreciate those old days at daycare where I did drop off and didn't need to organise anything else."

When my eldest started primary, I thought I was reasonably well-prepared.

Excited for the bittersweet joy of watching his world expand. Ready to support him with extra love and patience. 

What I hadn’t anticipated, though, was my hardest year yet as a part-time working parent.  Because... school is next-level.

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"Daycare is the logistical high point" 

One year into school mum life, I'm convinced daycare was actually the logistical highpoint in attempting to juggle work and young kids.

Sure, daycare isn’t exactly plain sailing, with its soaring cost and high risk environment for illness. But there are flexible drop-off and pick-up times. It runs all day and almost all year. So when your work days go ahead, it’s pretty much business as usual. 

It’s all downhill from there once you reach school, with its mid-afternoon finish. 

If you’re like me, that means hurriedly abandoning your desk right when you used to take a sugar hit and smash out 80 percent of the day’s tasks.

Of course, after-school care is an option. But for now, the thundercloud that descends on tired kiddos as soon as the bell rings (after-school restraint collapse in technical terms) often has us taking cover at home. 

Your next major issue to contend with is school holidays, which take up 12 weeks of the year. 

That’s 23 percent. 

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"Much less time to work with"

Throw in the odd curriculum day and inevitable absences from recurring illnesses – plus a few novel ones, like head lice and school sores – and suddenly there’s much less time to work with. 

Meanwhile, there’s a tonne of new items to cram into the already-heavy mental load, like  newsletters, uniforms, diaries and readers. 

Is it library day? Have I paid for that excursion? Did I reply to the latest birthday party invitation on the class WhatsApp group?

Did I accidentally send a close-up of my neck intended for my sister to the class WhatsApp group, seeking opinion on whether I should start saving for a facelift?

Not to mention summoning the stamina to pack a lunchbox day after day, with the added pressure of being solely responsible for meeting a growing human’s nutritional needs. 

Daycare serves a different gourmet meal every lunchtime. My schoolkid’s lucky to get a different spread on the sandwiches he’s had 152 days in a row. 

There’s also having to grow comfortable with less oversight. No more charts handily plotting your precious person’s food intake and toilet trips. 

I’m left wondering whether my child is drinking any water, reapplying sunscreen at playtime or trading his best snacks for Pokémon cards.  

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Maybe it’ll get easier once both my kids are older and settled in school. 

I suspect that, as with every parenting stage so far, some challenges will fade and new ones will emerge in their place. 

Until then, I’ll appreciate those couple of days a week when I drop my youngest at daycare without having to organise anything else.

Originally published as 'It's about to get real: A word of warning for first-time school parents'