School Readiness

School readiness is one of those terms which gets bandied about in the context of improving outcomes in early years. So if we can get children ready to start school so that they're already able to understand and follow instructions etc then they'll be in a better position to learn etc. There's a lot more to it than this brief summary and it all sounds good in theory.

But....

My baby, has a place to start at the school nursery in 2 weeks, straight after the Easter holidays. I'm so not ready for this. She's my baby. She's only 3 years old and when she was at daycare between the ages of 1 and 2 she would just sit quietly all day and not speak a word to anyone. She's very sensitive. Plus I feel as if this 3 years that I've had with her has just gone too fast.

We never got to do things together in the same way that I did things with my 5 year old. We never got the opportunity to do baby massage or Socatots.

I don't feel as if I know her very well. There's a form to complete for the school which asks a range of questions so that the teachers will know a bit about her but while going through it I realised I didn't know whether she likes milk or what her other likes and dislikes are.

When she was 9 months old I had to go to work to keep the roof over our head. It was out of necessity and not choice. When she was 16 months old I was elected to be a Councillor which keeps me very busy and when she was 20 months old her youngest sister was born with health needs so this really impacted upon Sophie. I hate that she's the middle child and that other things get in the way.

To try and deal with my lack of emotional readiness for Sophie starting nursery school, I've organised her school uniform and ordered some name labels. I still need to sort out getting her some little school shoes and her own school bag. But, I can just imagine me being a basket case on her first day when I have to leave her all dressed up in her uniform.

I hate that she'll be lonely and quiet in the midst of a class of 30 children.

She's such a beautiful little girl, she's incredibly funny and expressive but also very sensitive. She's very spiritual too. She loves to pray and look at her picture Bible. She once told me that Jesus is her rock! We've no idea where she got this from.

She gets dominated a lot by her big sister and loses out a lot of attention to her little sister.

Three years goes by so fast so I guess it just reminds me yet again to make the absolute most out of every moment. It's the little things which are special. I remember taking her with me to buy things in preparation for her 3rd birthday party and as we walked back home, she said "Oh Mummy, today is such a happy day" which totally melted my heart.

Oh well, tempus fugit. She's probably far more ready for school than I am and will probably settle really well.

Everyday's a Classroom

Over the last couple of years, basically since I was elected as a councillor, I have learned so much and yet still, every day is a class room.

People often describe learning new things as being  on a learning curve

e.g.




However, my experience of the last two years has not been as gradual as this. It's been a far steeper, in at the deep end kind of thing e.g.





Quite honestly, I wonder what on earth possesses anyone to want to fight an election, busting their guts to get people to vote for them. There are local and European elections coming up on May 22nd so the campaigning season will shortly be upon us.

Politics is a tough job, and if you're going to do it excellently, it takes over your life and family. You need to learn a lot about a very wide range of issues so that you can help your constituents to the very best of your ability.

I've been learning so much, both from my own experience and from the wisdom of other, more experienced councillors, who are also incredibly passionate about serving the people of this District.

To me politics is about the simple straightforward things, you know like representing people so that you can help to make their lives a little better and help them deal with specific issues that may be getting in the way of that.

Just casting my mind back over the last couple of months I've dealt with issues to do with: allotments, highways, council tax, benefits, food banks, boundary fencing, anti-social behaviour, dog fouling, fly tipping, littering, education, health care, play, planning issues and probably a lot more that I can't just call to mind so quickly.

But we all know that there's a lot more to it than that. I am rapidly coming to the realisation that while I still have a heck of a lot to learn and a lot to do, it is all worth it. There's more criticism than thanks but I will keep on going to serve the people within this district which I love.