Jane Trask: Teachers, parents and students anticipate return to school

You can almost hear a collective sigh of relief from parents as they farewell their children back to school this week and next. Photo / Getty Images

You can almost hear a collective sigh of relief from parents as they farewell their children back to school this week and next.

In the same instance you can hear the teachers take a sharp intake of breath as they prepare to unleash an entire year of teaching, mentoring and pastoral care on everyone else's children.

The teachers are heading back to school with a mixture of anticipation, excitement, stress and anxiety at once again trying to keep a semblance of balance between over commitment to their much loved jobs alongside their own families and life quality.

They look forward to hearing about their students summers, meeting new students and introducing topics and learning that will hopefully give their students as much enjoyment as the passion they have felt planning units over the holidays.

The balance in routine becomes restored as parents no longer need to worry about holiday programmes, keeping kids entertained and busy; without crossing the dangerous line of too much screen time versus extra costs that come with holiday activities and having a constant stream of friends over.

Alarms are set and snooze buttons on standby as children and teenagers once again adhere to a stricter routine than the summer has allowed.

Bronzed from summer sun, uniforms (if worn) are donned and parents realise just how much growth has occurred over the summer.

Some students are super excited to get back to school life, while others find it merely challenging to just stop eating when they want throughout the day.

Parents are nearly broke again after buying new uniforms, stationery, shoes or sandals (that are like walking around on two bits of wooden boards), organising haircuts, lunchboxes and school bags. (Last year's school bags were found with old rotten sandwiches and mushy fruit inside, which students failed to empty at the end of the year rush.)

Even getting to town to organise all of the above is tricky in itself with bored, tired and hot children accompanying parents in an often not so helpful way.

The lure of shiny new stationery is always a treat for both teachers and students alike, until that first day when you make a written entry and realise that not even new books can help improve writing, work ethic or enthusiasm for learning.

All year I look forward to a new diary and the moment I make my first entry, it becomes untidy and I look forward to starting a fresh one again in 11 months' time!

I am on the flipside this year, I don't have the stress of returning to fulltime teaching and I can't say I'm unhappy about it.

I sympathise with my teacher colleagues knowing full well that senior management and school wide expectations will hit them with such an impact as soon as their feet start running into the new school year.

Extracurricular expectations can often take away from the passion and enjoyment of just teaching a class, as teachers micromanage their planning, student learning and behaviour and their never ending "to do" lists.

Always lurking in the background of every teacher's mind, is the pressure of meeting learning outcomes and achievement levels for each and every student, while providing stimulating, relevant and inspiring teaching lessons.

As an "ex-teacher currently taking a break from it", I can genuinely sympathise with teachers returning to teach in what is always one of the hottest months of the year.

Classrooms are often ill-equipped, without air conditioning or air flow and students become lethargic from both the heat and reactivating their brains.

Parents can happily restore the balance of positive relationships with their children as the time away from / time spent with them balance is restored.

While we love our own offspring, copious amounts of time spent with our darlings, not only provides us with fantastic memories and fun but also reminds us just how similar our children are to ourselves.

And dealing with these mirror images all day isn't always that fun.

So spare a thought not only to all the poor parents picking up the pieces from holiday mess, activities and time well spent with their beloved offspring who have or are heading back to work to pay for the next lot of family bills and expenses.

Parents are also mourning yet another summer of family memories that is now over.

But also spare a thought to our valued teachers, who may also be parents themselves, juggling not only their return to what will be another full-on year, but also organising their own feelings and children returning to school as well.

To parents, remember your children are only young for such a short time, tomorrow is never promised and we only have 18 summers in total to spend with them.

Teachers, remember why you entered into this profession and know that as parents we support and value the impact you have on helping to shape and support our children.

And let us also remember to listen to our children too. Not only do they teach us so much both as parents and teachers, their young voices often have so much wisdom in what they want to say.

Let the 2020 school year begin!

*Jane Trask is a columnist and former teacher