The Last Days of School

By Alice O'Brien

Churchview Therapies, Millstreet

We put a lot of effort and sentiment into sending our children to school for the first time. We plan for months, we take lovely photos, and we send them off in a shiny new uniform, their eyes full of wonderment and an innocent nature that will never be matched. They skip off with excitement, ready for a whole new world, while we watch on in hope that this world will be kind to them. Just are there are firsts, there are lasts- that’s how the world turns. Do we think much about their last day of school? The day they leave for school for the last time?

uniform well-worn and innocence long since lost? They will no longer be skipping, more like dragging themselves to the finish line. Many years pass under the bridge of life between their days in junior infants and their leaving cert year. Many arguments over homework, many school tours, many lost copy-books and broken pencils. But, in all that time, one thing doesn’t change and that’s our view of them. The adult you look at on the last day is a reflection of that lovely innocent little 5 year old on that first September day.

As they prepare to leave the nest and fly on their own, we should feel very proud. We have prepared them for this, filled them with the confidence and self-belief to soar. But, we may feel a loss, a reluctance to embrace this new and wonderful world they seek. After-all, our identity has changed now. We are no longer needed to taxi them around, arranging our schedule around them. Having time for ourselves is a good thing, we just need to adjust to it. But we can enjoy their last days as much as we enjoyed their firsts if we allow ourselves to. We can watch them share their hopes, their plans and their anticipation for the whole new world that awaits them. So, stop focusing on the exams, the points, the results. Focus on the now. Show them that the world is theirs for the taking.