Parenting in Sussex: January back to school fun, waiting for snow and trying not to eat constantly

Happy new year, everybody, did you have a good Christmas break? If I’m being honest, I’m still feeling quite befuddled. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but the meme that describes people’s post-Christmas period as ‘confused and full of cheese’ is entirely accurate.

Yes, I know we’re well into January now, but Christmas and new year is such a whirlwind (and such was the classic overbuying of food that we have mountains of ‘naughty’ stuff left) that I’m still working my way through our festive mountain of food.

Is it okay to eat a wheel of baked camembert for dinner, washed down with leftover Christmas alcohol and a hefty portion of Christmas pudding and brandy sauce for afters in the first week of the new year? At this point I’ve lost the plot and don’t know, but I do know that I’m quite looking forward to cheese, crackers and chutney for my lunch!

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Despite my unreadiness for it all, time stands still for no (wo)man and the back-to-school madness happened this week whether I was prepared for it or not. I’d spent most of the weekend in semi-denial about it all. Reluctant to dig out the uniforms and ready the school bags until quite late on Sunday night. It was an act of bizarre self-sabotage that meant desperately trying to find my son’s school trousers when I should have been getting to bed early. First lesson of 2025 learned, I guess, even if it is a golden oldie – don’t put off until tomorrow what can be done today. Wise words there from Benjamin Franklin, wise words indeed.

Speaking of bedtimes, they had pretty much gone to pot over the holidays. Children were staying up late, getting up late (for them) and generally not sticking to any kind of routine. Which is problematic the night before school restarts and you’d quite like them to go to bed ‘on time’ again.

My son was not all that happy when we suggested he go to bed at 7.30pm, which he declared much too early, and my daughter was equally nonplussed with the idea of going to bed an hour or so later. Then there was trying to get them to move quickly once they’d got up in the morning, and have breakfast, get dressed for school, brush their teeth, etc., and be ready to leave the house before 8.30am.

From a household where most of us had barely seen the ground floor before 8.30am for the last couple of weeks, this was a distinct struggle.

I can’t say I’m looking forward to homework, clubs, playdates and more restarting – a break from all the rushing around has been most welcome – but I do think the reintroduction of some structure to our days might do us all good. Not least the fact we might be able to stop grazing on a beige buffet of festive foods around the clock if we’re busy working/schooling.

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I was good at keeping up my running over Christmas, and I’d like to keep going this week, but the suggestion of ice and snow is not filling me with joy.

Yes, I know it’s fun for kids, but it’s always so lame when it does snow down here on the south coast that I almost feel like it’s not worth the hassle.

It just makes the pavements all slippery for a while, and my children get disappointed when their attempts to build a slushy brown snowman don’t work.

By the time this column is printed we’ll know if the white stuff did materialise, but I’ll have to leave it on this cliffhanger for myself as I write this on Tuesday morning. See you next week for the big reveal!