"No reading at the breakfast table"

As school goes back this week and new classes are formed, here's a repost on an issue I need to keep reminding myself to think wisely about! How do you cope when your kids are finding life hard?  They're left out from a social event that all their friends are invited to?  They are in a new class with none of their old friends?  I've had a few of these situations to cope with in the last month.  Tricky stuff. The beginning of each school year and the establishing of school classes gives me an insight into how some parents respond to the ups and downs of their children's lives.  My friend was telling me about her school when the classes were announced on the first day of school.  There were murmurs of approval or disapproval across the school hall as parents felt happy or sad about the teacher their child had been given.  I witnessed a similar process myself, where parents were either waving thumbs up at other mums across the room or grimaci...

My children start school tomorrow and I mostly feel good about it.  But I am hoping in my heart that my kids avoid a couple of teachers who might make school boring for them or might yell at my terribly sensitive child.  Will they learn?  Will they be happy?  Can't I help them avoid the hard stuff? So here's the little self talk process I've been taking myself through.  No, I won't talk to the school.  We have a policy of not saying anything about class placements and trusting the school to do the right thing by our kids.  I've also asked myself these questions.  Do they have particular learning difficulties?  No.  Will they be in danger?  No. I think we can help them to learn loads from the less than ideal at school.  We can talk about ways to manage hard situations.  This is a life skill.  Part of them growing towards independence.  Learning resilience and perseverance when things aren't ideal or even do...

When you enrol your first child in school, you attend the information sessions, negotiate the mystery of the school uniform shop (do I buy the big bag or the small one?  How many pairs of trousers?) and just generally feel stressed and confused. However, here's what I think you  actually  need when your child starts school: 1.  A big box of envelopes and a big bag of change.  Every second day there is a note that needs handing in usually with a small amount of money included. 2.  An electronic organiser of some kind which beeps to tell you what day Library/Sport/Folk Dancing/Animal Husbandry is on and what equipment your child (LOL - my apologies - that would actually be you, since you're the one who gets into trouble when they don't bring the right stuff) needs to take. 3.  Ten hats - they lose one about once a week.  Remember:  'No hat, No play' actually means sitting in a shed, in the shade, feeling like a social outcast a...