Parental guidance

This is a photo of plucky little me in primary school.

I love the expression on my face, I look quite canny for one so young. And determined.

I am very glad my school years are over, but I would quite like some of that childhood pluckiness back.

The childhood determination remains and got me through a long, busy day yesterday.

I muddled my way through parent-teacher interviews last night.

I bolted from work and arrived completely unprepared. The interviews were formerly held speed-dating style in the assembly hall, but COVID forced them in rooms scattered across the campus and I hadn’t done my homework and consulted the map in the parents portal.

Luckily I had arrived 10 minutes early and could do some panic-free detective work.

The teachers were mostly glowing about the youngest as a person, but suggested she had a bit of work to do as a student.

They felt she was capable of more. I had to relay this information to her as she had ditched the interviews in favour of skipping training.

The youngest invariably chooses sport over study.

It will be interesting to see whether she knuckles down for the HSC, which begins terrifyingly soon.

It felt a bit flashback-y to be at a high school discussing the HSC. I was the exact opposite to the youngest – I always chose study over sport.

I didn’t like study, but I liked sport even less, mainly because I was so bad at it.

I knew study was a necessary evil. I told myself that I needed to bunker down and get the best HSC result I possibly could and then I never had to study again.

I never studied again, which is no doubt why I failed that brain teaser test I did over the weekend.

After parent teacher interviews I collected the youngest from skipping training at 7.30pm, cooked dinner, did another hour of work then helped the youngest with her English assignment.

It was after 10pm by then, so I put the dogs and myself to bed and now it starts all over again today.

I would like to stop for a little while and have a chance to breathe.

There is very little time to just breathe.

But that childhood determination will get me through and I will have a little, unpaid chance to stop on Friday when I go to the hospital for my medical procedure.

That’s kind of a joke and kind of not.

A proper holiday would also be nice. In the meantime, I will focus on finding time to breathe ..: and buying the occasional lottery ticket.