At first you think this is great. No more non-stop Waybuloo! But sooner or later it hits you. You're so used to being a Work At Home Mum (WAHM) or a Stay At Home Mum (SAHM) that suddenly finding yourself without the little person who has been occupying so much of your time can cause huge waves of Adult Separation Anxiety.
So here are my top tips for surviving the Back To School Blues:
1. Calling the school secretary every hour on the hour to find out if your little one is a) alright b) making friends and c) eating their lunch will make you unpopular and they may get cross. For easy reference, the answers are a) yes b) yes c) no.
2. Watching Loose Women and Dickinson's Real Deal while devouring a packet of biscuits and looking up old 'friends' on Facebook is OK for the first few days but probably not the best use of your time.
3. Talk to the other mums at the school gates – they won't bite, and if a few of them do, you'll know who to avoid next time. Invite them round for coffee, suggest working out together or get involved with the PTA. You'll make some good friends for life.
And seeing your child's face light up with pride as they show you something they made/wrote/draw at school will make it all worthwhile, I promise.
written by Liz Jarvis