Waiting at the school gate is a minefield and parents can transport you back to your childhood – here’s how to deal with ‘mean girls’
From PTA to sports day - is school status worse for you or your kids?
AAHH . . . the kids have been back at school for a week.
I’m sure there have been a mix of scenes and situations unfolding at the school gates.
Huge sighs of relief the bickering and choruses of “I’m bored” have come to an end.
Extra-hard, lingering hugs and wet, tear-streaked cheeks (of the parents, mostly, not the children) of first days back.
There is a lot to take in. The nerves, the fears about fitting in, of making friends or standing alone in the playground.
You think I’m talking about the worries of children. Nope. I’m talking about the parents. The school gate is a minefield, a hostile environment that can transport you back to your own childhood in an instant.
Forget “mean girls”. I’m talking mean mums.
At the beginning it’s all coffee mornings and promises of dinner parties to come. But pretty soon the cliques form.
Of course they do. Because why would a group of adults from all walks of life necessarily get on, just because they happen to have children around the same age?
Why would they become best friends based only on that?
There is always the one jostling for “queen bee” status.
She wants to be head of the PTA and will do anything she can to make her little one the most elaborate Easter bonnet. She’ll be judging if you – God forbid – drop your child at the gate and leave without the forced chatter and talk of playdates.
It’s like an episode of the hit US drama Big Little Lies.
Let’s be honest. Having a friend and ally to see you through a kid’s birthday party is always a bonus.
And I have made good girlfriends at the gates. But I have also been metaphorically “picked last”.
And don’t get started on the parents’ race at sports day . . .
