I often write my blog posts when things are either feeling bad, or we’ve just been through something bad or when things have suddenly got better. Today is a day when things are, well, fine. The rollercoaster seems to have slowed down (for now at least), or the storm has passed and there isn’t another on the horizon, just yet.

It’s been a nightmare 18 months – GCSEs were always going to be tough, but throw Covid-19 into the mix, and it all got a lot tougher. Online learning, concentration issues, disorganisation, changing timetables, back at school, some students isolating, some teachers isolating, another lockdown, another return to school were all difficult, and then add to that the hoki-coki attitude the Government seemed to have with GCSEs (they’re on, they’re on but different, they’re definitely on, they’re off, teacher assessments (but we won’t quite let you know how yet), exam style assessments marked by teachers, exam conditions, homework, class assessments) and it’s been a mental health nightmare for us, and for many other students and teachers.

Assessments, for our school, had to be done by the end of May, and then they had 3 weeks off to relax and let the teachers do whatever magic they had to do with the assessments. They then had a 3 week sixth form taster at school doing the subjects they want to take next year, wearing suits or smart clothes, and with sixth form privileges (a slightly shorter day and being allowed out at lunchtime). The effect has been amazing. Gone is the stressed school boy who worried about everything and hated a lot of school, and in his place is a confident and content young adult who has loved wearing suits and coloured shirts (thank you Next Sale) and different ties, who has basked in the harder work and being extended and is almost joyful at no more English literature or language. It’s not like he’s taking easy options (although there are no easy options at A-level), as he’s taking 3 sciences and maths, but these are ‘his’ subjects. We don’t need to ask him what he wants to do when he leaves school, as he is a scientist – always has been. The question instead is which part of science do you think you’ll work in?

He had sports day, speech day, Y11 prom and a biology field trip all in the space of 9 days, and at the end of it, he did have a migraine, but before just sports day may have been enough to trigger a migraine or stress response. It is so lovely to see!

I imagine being almost 17 and hormones settling may also have some impact on this calmer person, and no doubt there will be issues over the next two years – we’ve been through further education with a skware peg before, I know the storms haven’t miraculously disappeared!

The purpose of this post is to just celebrate the content, calm place that we’re in right now. We have been through some horribly turbulent and trying times, and there were some situations it was hard to see a way through, but we stuck together, and we managed – maybe by the skin of our teeth, but we did it. And now we’re here. Two skware pegs (and two ND parents) who are content, and are exactly where they are supposed to be. Now, that doesn’t mean I can dye my hair or change our meals or wear new perfume, some things are set in stone, but right now, it’s all ok.

Whatever situation you may be in today when you read this, please know that it can get better, that the sun will shine again. Raising any child is hard, and raising a skware peg (or two) even harder. Sometimes the battles and problems just keep coming and coming and you feel like you’re drowning – we have been there, and it is unbelievably hard and exhausting. Sometimes just as you think you’ve cracked it, something else comes along and knocks you for six. Sometimes there is no help or no one to talk to (if this is you, please, please reach out to me on FB and message me via the page – link here) and the lows are so low you don’t ever think you’ll get back. We have been on this crazy rollercoaster for almost 25 years now, and the highs are higher than anything I can imagine, but the lows are lower, but I hope that reading this will make you realise that it won’t always be this way, and there will come a day when everything is exactly as it is supposed to be.