Caroline's blog: Change is here to stay

"OK – own up - so who flicked the switch to change summer to autumn last week? It seemed a cruel thing to do. And with it came the sudden realisation that the un-named unwashed pile of new school uniform was not going to sort itself out without some action on my part, and something had to happen to the plastic mouth guard if it is to have half a chance of protecting my daughter’s teeth.

Last week also marked another major change when my baby boy had his first day in Reception. It is quite a shock to realise that we now just have school-aged children in the house – it will take us a while to get our heads around that.  The thing about a young family is that they grow quickly, and their needs are constantly changing. Just when one work arrangement and related child care arrangements are bedded down, something changes, requiring the strategic planning of a military operation to react and adjust. There’s now different drop off and pick up times, sports kits and phonic readers to factor into the already-complicated daily schedule.

My baby boy’s transition to school made me reminisce on the changes that have gone on in my life to get to this stage – some subconsciously and others more deliberately. Like the progression from Radio 1, to Capital FM, to Heart. “Date night” no longer meaning a night out in town, but generally steak, chips and a bottle of red wine on the sofa on a Friday night in front of a back episode of “Have I got news for you?”. And as for transport options – the car-less City girl acquired an old VW (and learnt the vital lesson that it’s not helpful to name and bond with your car in front of the car dealer before negotiating price). Then, following hotly on the heels of the positive pregnancy test, came the estate car. Finally, last year, faced with lift shares, kids’ bikes and an increasing entourage of apparent essentials, we conceded defeat and bought a 7-seater now affectionately known as “the truck”.

Although some things have changed, others have remained reassuringly constant. Like trying to have a lie-in beyond 7am on a weekend, or coaxing our semi-conscious tots to eat breakfast before getting them out the door to school in the morning. And finally, the tissues that I needed following baby boy’s first drop off in Reception, exactly as I had needed after big sister’s first drop off two years ago. I thought things would be different the second time, but there was no change there. Reassuringly he wasn’t bothered by the new start – he was oblivious to my misty eyes, and he was quite clear that my lingering presence beyond his settling down to play cramped his style. His main preoccupation now seems to be the order in which he will take his superhero action figures into school for golden time on Friday afternoons. I’m proud to see that he has embraced change, even if it may take the rest of us a little longer to adjust."

Caroline is the proud mum of a 7 year old Disney Princess and a 5 year old Superhero. She is also a senior associate in the pensions team at a magic circle law firm where she tries to balances work and family life by mixing office and home-based working for four days over five days each week.