Larysa at her new school

I thought I would spend a few moments describing Larysa's move from primary to secondary school so that it might help others who children go though the same thing.



One night I went upstairs at my regular bedtime of midnight (thinking the girls were asleep ages ago) only to find Larysa on the upstairs landing huddled over her french project with bits of material, tape, scissors and all bits of stuff all around her. I tried to get very angry with her to force her to bed, but her anguish at wanting to do the best job possible tore at my heartstrings and I sat with her until she was done and helped her clean up. The upshot was it wasn't even assigned homework, but something she just wanted to impress her French teacher with!



Every trip home from school is an exercise in psychoanalysis in trying to help Larysa negotiate the ebbs and flows of making new friends, falling out with new friends, making more new friends, trying to mediate between her new new friends and new friends. In the end, I would just get very confused and have to rely on good old Mum's hugs as a panacea for all her problems.



The added responsibilities of having to keep track of our your own schedule, getting to school and home without your Mum and not to mention keeping on top of homework is a difficult task for even the more organized individuals, but for Larysa having to remember her PE kit, her phone, lunch money, her Oyster card, full uniform, homework, homework diary, etc., etc., etc.... became the bane of my existence. I can't tell you how many times I've had to make unscheduled trips up to the school with forgotten bits and bobs for Larysa. (My worst experience was I bowed to the drama queen's demands that I hand-deliver her homework diary to her in her classroom, only to be caught by the deputy head and sent packing with my tail firmly between my legs, how embarrassing!)

I am happy to report that the phone calls are getting less ans less frantic (oh, she still forgets stuff) and she claims that now their class has worked out most of their issues they're all getting along well and she's figured out that her teachers will love her regardless of whether she does extra projects for them.

Phew! And just think I get to go through this all again with Adriana.