Is secondary school a strange world into which we parents do not tread? | Kelly Brown

How do you know when your children are growing up too fast? When you have to submit a secondary school application, is my answer.
Our columnist has been getting in her son's secondary school application. Picture by ShutterstockOur columnist has been getting in her son's secondary school application. Picture by Shutterstock
Our columnist has been getting in her son's secondary school application. Picture by Shutterstock

Long gone are the milestones of first steps, first words, first day at school, even entering double digits, as I stare at a secondary school application form for my son.

Just how did this happen? Where did my little baby boy go?

It only seems like yesterday that I was enduring sleepless nights because he was fidgeting around in my belly, and now he is measuring how tall he is compared to me.

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But now my boy, who is excitedly exploring his independence, is soon about to enter into a world where I will never tread. And I don’t like it!

For years I have been a regular feature at his schools helping out as a volunteer reader, meaning I have been lucky enough to get to know their staff really well and have a good idea about what primary school life is like.

With regular invitations to music concerts, sports events and fundraisers, all us parents have had the opportunity to play a part of their school journey, whether it be to watch them perform or simply help them practise their times tables and spellings at home.

But secondary school is a strange new world into which we parents do not tread. We don’t walk them to school or pick them up from outside their classroom.

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Homework will be a strange new world, which seemingly requires much less input from parents who are desperately trying to rack their back of their minds to remember what a tangent is or what we use pi for in maths.