So, it’s finally here. After 5 months of schooling at home (I am really unwilling to call this home schooling) schools in England are opening in the next week or so. I’m lucky that our school is small, the year group bubbles aren’t too big, and they’ve asked the students to wear masks in corridors so I’m not too worried, and neither is the teen. However, lots of parents, teachers and students are understandably unsure about what’s going to happen.

The main worry in this house isn’t Covid, it’s the not knowing and the huge change in routine. Most children were last in school around 24 weeks ago – almost half a year. We were off from the 13th March because the teen, and then I, had a bad cough that may or may not have been ‘it’. By the time he was well enough to go back, schools had closed. He had completed about 60% of year 10 before lockdown, and then 33% was online, so we have a missing 7%, but compared to many, we are fortunate that there were online lessons for the summer term that he found engaging and so I don’t think he’s too far behind. That saying, he is going into a new year with a new routine, timetable, regime and so much more. Although he is going back to a school he has known for 12 years (his brother was there before him) everything is going to feel different.

As parents, how do we help our children through this? For us, it’s all about talking, listening and really hearing what our children are saying. We’ve had a tough week or so, with lots of sighing and shoulder shrugs, which means we’ve had a week or so of listening and doing whatever the teen wants us to do. He’s spent lots of time in his room watching whatever he wants on TV, but we’ve also had walks, he’s come with me to the recycling centre (oh, the excitement) so that we could chat on the way there and back, and we’ve let him choose what to watch in the evenings when he’s come to sit with us. We’ve acknowledged that this is strange, and that everyone is going to find the next few weeks odd as we all get used to the new normal in schools, colleges and universities. We’ve also acknowledged that there isn’t a right or wrong way to feel, and that there can be a mix of emotions – they can look forward to going back AND feel worried about going back AND feel pleased they can escape from us for a day AND not want to leave us for a day, all at the same time. No one has ever been through this before, we are in new territory, and we have to find our own way.

I am lucky that my job has quite flexible hours, and so I can take the time to sit and chat, or sit and be ignored, but if you work, if it’s possible, over the next few weeks, please make sure you check in on your children when you have time. Sometimes when I know something isn’t quite right but he doesn’t want to talk about it, I’ll take my laptop and sit on his floor and work while he watches telly or plays a game, and then at least I’m there. However, if he wants to be on his own, I respect that and leave him for a little while.

Parenting when there isn’t a global pandemic can be hard, and parenting at the moment really feels like wading through treacle wearing lead boots at times. This post may resonate with you, in which case, use the bits that you find useful, or it may not, and may seem utter nonsense – and that’s fine! We all have our own parenting styles and we all have our own highly individual children. However, whatever you think of my ramblings, I hope that if the next few weeks (??months) seem hard, you will message me here, or via social media (find me on FB, and Twitter) if you need someone to listen. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I am here, and I will listen and I will hold your hand if you need me to.