The Drop Off Zone...

Parents fear it...kids are drawn to it. It's even a taboo subject in 'Finding Nemo' - it's the Drop Off Zone at school.

I'm pretty new to all this school stuff, Sienna only started in Prep this year. It's a big school of around 800 kids and for fear of her getting lost in the crowds, I was more than happy to keep walking her to her classroom each morning and help her with her morning tasks before the bell went.

Then one morning in the second last week of term 1 as I was helping her get her reader out of her bag, my big girl said to me, "Mummy, I can do it myself. I don't need you to do it." Well! It was like a slap in the face! My first-born suddenly didn't need me for this! I was almost a bit teary walking back to the car that morning. (Luckily, the little man managed to trip both himself and his younger sister up on the way out, so my mind had to be busy consoling the two of them on the walk out!)

Then the biggest shock - on the way home after school that day, Sienna tells me she doesn't want me to walk her in and out of school anymore either. She wants to use the 'drop off zone' (pick up zone at home time I guess) and be a big girl. "I can do it Mummy, I really can!" she cried!

I didn't really answer, but I thought about it that night and talked it through with hubby. We both agreed that in her teeny (almost) 6 years, we've taught her to be a confident, aware little girl. This is proof that we're doing well, we're on the right track!

So the next morning, that's what we did. I had to do two trips around the block because we were too early for drop off...! Then we lined up with the other cars and crept along until we reached the front of the line. I helped her get out of the car and after a quick cuddle and kiss, she was off, zoom! (Yes, the tears flowed that morning! Little brother and sister were bawling in the back seat also because they didn't get to hop out of the car for a play on the school playground...) But you know what? Sienna was fine. Of course she was fine.

But gosh I was so happy at pick up time to get to the front of the line and see her happy, smiling face waiting for me! "I did it Mum!" she said proudly.

So I've got the timing right now (I leave at 8.35am in the mornings and 3.28pm in the afternoons). I still have issues with pick up times - do 80% of the other parents turn crazy at this time of day?! There's tooting, 'pushing in' (hence the tooting), parents who get out to yap to other parents (big no-no, it's a 2 minute time limit there...hence the pushing in), illegal u-turns (cue the dirty looks) - you can imagine, it's chaotic.

But my big girl is always waiting at the gate with the other 'drop off kids' - always smiling, waving and excited to tell us about her day. The only minor mishap we've had so far was when four identical black Territories were lined up in a row (mine included) and four kiddies (Sienna included) freaked out about which one to get into!

So I've come to realise, I'm not 'letting go', it's just another little part of one of my babies taking another big step into the big world.

 - Mem x