14 Days To go School Starts! Oh No!

In the UK our children generally start school before their fifth birthday and personally I think that is too young. They’re hardly out of nappies, some still use dummies or comforters, and they still rely on mummy and daddy to put everything right for them. 

What do we do? We send them to school for five days a week and expect them to settle instantly. In this whole new big world, and to a four year old it’s big, the school, the classroom, the assembly hall and the playground must be absolutely frightening, and at 9am they’re left, in truth to fend for themselves. They don’t see those most important people in their lives, in our case Mummy and Daddy for six hours.

During that six hours they will have to remember to go to the toilet, have a snack, eat their lunch, but that will be done within a certain amount of time. Knowing our twins some days they can take ages to eat their lunch. In school they won’t have that luxury and they won’t be able to say whenever they are hungry, Dad! Mum! Can I have something to eat please!

Why as a nation are we so quick to rush our children off to school? I feel we are to some extent pushing them to grow up. Four years of age is very young to expect so much of them. To become independent and survive in what I believe on their own. 

In some ways I take comfort from the fact that they are twins and knowing that whatever happens they will have each other for company. Because it would very easy for a four year old to become isolated. The teacher will have 30 children in the class and a teachers aide, which works out at 15 children per adult. If your child is of a quiet nature they could easily be lost under the radar of the teachers. That worries me hugely, because both our girls are very quiet. They most certainly aren’t the stars of the show, definitly background children, the ones the teachers miss because they don’t give any problems and they are not loud. 

So it’s 14 days to go and my fears and worries are beginning to heighten on a daily basis. At just fours years old I don’t feel the girls are emotionally or physically grown up enough to handle even a minor hiccup in their lives. Yes, they have had a small amount of preparation by attending nursery, but what does that really amount to? 2 hours a day in an almost bubble like environment. It’s simply not enough to integrate them into full-time school.

I hope they settle quickly otherwise these early days of full-time school, if they are unhappy, could follow them thoughout their entire school lives.