#ToBeHonest: My nerves were wrecked sending the kids back to school

Like many parents I saw my kids off to school this week.

The night before they started school my nerves were in bits. I had no idea how the first day was going to go. My son was heading back to school having missed several months into an environment with new rules and pods. My daughter on the other hand was starting her very first day of preschool. I didn't know what to expect for either of them with all the new safety protocols but my mind was soon put at ease once I got to the school gate. My son's school adorned the front of the school with balloons (which all the students got to take home after school) and parents were able to leave children off in the yard. We had been emailed beforehand with photographs of what the classroom would look like with the new social distancing pod system. The staggered start and finish times are still something we're getting used to and I'm not really sure how it's going to work if I ever switch from working from home back to office work, but sure we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. While with my son I was a bit nervous, I also knew that he was in good hands, especially since his school kept in contact with us regularly over the last few months. My daughter I was more nervous about, not just because of the new safety rules but because it would be her first time in a school environment and I wouldn't be able to walk in with her. Luckily the staff at her preschool are brilliant and she took to it like a duck to water. She's just finished her first week and she's already asking about when she's going back to see her friends. The last few months have been difficult for everyone whether it was parents and teachers trying to figure out how to teach children from home or children being taken away from their friends and classrooms without knowing when they would see them again. It's great to see things go back to some sort of normality, but mostly I'm just delighted that they get to be around other children again and get back to enjoying their childhoods like all children deserve too. I will repeat though, one week in, still not a fan of the new school run.