All this time has past and yet all that happened is that Zoe started school. But mind you, school is not what it used to be. Or at least how I remember it. It is no longer a place to send children to be looked after and edified while parents stay in their own separate realm.
The cute little school we found is really great and I generally do like the teachers and their funky approach to education, but how many talks on child development and education can one fit into a five-day week? Don't they ever sleep?
Whereas my parents would never have dreamt of setting foot into my school more than twice a year, parents today are expected to be on call anytime. They are there at drop off, back again at pick up, they host social coffee mornings (ugh!), hold workshops, organize fundraisers, help with school events, they sow, knit, hammer, paint, and bake....
In the first three weeks of my school ordeal, I have been called in to five meetings, I have been named class contact, and consequently written up contact lists, telephone trees, welcome letters, and lice memos, as well as prepared a list of items to prepare in anticipation of the Christmas Fair in November.
Like a giant behemoth the school body and its various swirling long necked heads have gobbled me up like a lemon cup cake. Nothing but a frilly paper cup left behind blowing languidly in the wind.
I am exhausted and bewildered. Why are parents expected to morph into backstage gophers? And, even more astonishing, why do most parents (i.e. mothers) comply? Is it hormones? Or maybe one-up-wo/man-ship? Or is it the fear of being left behind in the dust? Is it complacency, maybe the lack of better things to do? As for myself, I will have to change something - soon, or I am not going to make it to Halloween.
The funny thing is that all along while I was homeschooling, people asked me how I did it, how I survived with not a minute to myself. Easy, folks, easy - and a lot more fun!
