☰
World NewsCovid-19NewsUK NewsUS NewsPolitics2020 electionCultureLifePeopleTechEntertainmentIdentitiesGenderClassLGBTQ+RaceEducation
Start writing a post

Preparing for my kids to go back to school (again)​​

March 02, 2021
Frank trying on his school uniform for the first time in July 2020
Indy100-Conversations
and
Lauren_Nolan

My four-year-old, Frank, will be heading back to school on the 8th of March with millions of other children that have been learning at home. With one week to go, what do we need to do to prepare?

Well, first off, where is their uniform?! It seems like an age since I tucked the white polos and school jumpers away in a cupboard somewhere. The P.E kit? No idea. I'm not confident his (brand new) school shoes still fit, so I might need to replace those. There is a book bag knocking around somewhere, as well as a reading log that I have not only misplaced, but haven't filled in since December. We have been reading, I'm just not organised enough to log it (clearly). So this week I will be frantically finding essential school items, and no doubt I'll be spending Sunday the 7th with a glass of wine filling in eight weeks worth of reading. Oh, and if your kid has packed lunch, and the lunchbox has been under the stairs since January, you might have to ask Matt Hancock for some PPE (they've got loads knocking around apparently).

Next we might want to consider how feral our children have become and whether we can turn that around in a week. I'm sure there are lots of kids that have kept impeccable manners and dressed appropriately for school every day, but my child has been in fancy dress for his lessons I'd say...90% of the time. And pyjamas. Its difficult enough to get him to engage at the age of four; if he wants to dress as Star Lord and call our lessons "Superhero School", I'm on board. However, this might raise a tricky situation come the morning of the 8th, when I explain that he cannot rock up to school in his Batman - Dark Knight costume. Other home school habits I may need to stamp out this week include multiple snack times, allowing him to write on the white board himself, letting various toys "join" the lessons, abandoning tasks halfway through to go for a walk when we get fed up, and eating sandwiches wrong (he deconstructs them and it drives me insane).

The important lessons I've learned so far on homeschooling my childconversations.indy100.com


And then most importantly, how can I prepare Frank for going back to school emotionally? He's spoken to a few kids at playgrounds; every time he does he lights up being in the company of another child. Another child that isn't his brother, of course. So although I'm sure he will be thrilled to see his classmates, it will also be a big step up from a five minute chat at the swings. The school routine might be a shock. He might be feeling apprehensive and nervous, as well as excited. He has missed his teachers acutely, but how will he cope with seeing them again? Will he miss being home all day? This week I will be trying to get him to talk about his feelings, as well as filling him up as much as I can with pride in what he has accomplished during home learning. I want him to go in and say - look! I can do this now! I will try not to talk in front of him about being behind, losing time, catching up, or how bad home school was. I am fully expecting him to have a bit of a wobble, or possibly a full meltdown, at some point during the first week. And when he does I will try my best to be kind and remember going back to school this way, after nearly three months at home, is going to be a lot for a child to handle. As essential as it is that he goes back, it may well be tough too.

I'll also be considering this week how I can convey to the school staff how grateful I am, and how much I admire their resilience during this lockdown, and the entire year. I am sure that some of the school staff at Frank's school might be feeling apprehensive about schools reopening since hardly any of them have been vaccinated yet. But the overwhelming message we've had from them, to the kids via video and to the parents via email, is this; we can't wait to see you all back and we've missed you so much. That sums up teachers doesn't it? They are putting the children first, as they always do, and if I was allowed to I'd give Miss Plumb a hug as I handed Frank over. I hope she'll settle for a wave at the school gates.

Have you got something to say about parenting? Submit a post today and join the conversation.

Trending Topics

Can tech help female entrepreneurs break the bias?

Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Written by Kelly Devine, Division President UK & Ireland, Mastercard

Starting a business may have historically been perceived as a man’s game, but this couldn’t be further from reality. Research shows women are actually more likely than men to actively choose to start their own business – often motivated by the desire to be their own boss or to have a better work-life balance and spend more time with their family.

The recently published Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurship 2021 found that in the category of 'Aspiration Driven Entrepreneurship’ – capturing those who actively choose to start their own business – women in the UK surpass men: 60% vs 56%. And Mastercard research from February 2022 found 10% of female business owners started their business in the past two years compared to 6% of men – meaning women were 67% more likely to have started a business during the pandemic.

Yet, there are common challenges that women founders continue to come up against - not least the gender imbalance in the household and long-held biases which are still prevalent.

In the UK, women are almost three times more likely to be balancing care and home commitments than men, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic as the additional barriers of school closures and lockdowns meant that the care time of dependents rose significantly on a day-to-day level for women. In addition, women were less likely to have access to a home office, greatly impacting the work they were able to accomplish when working from home was the only option.

It's also widely known that female business owners are still more likely to struggle to access funding for their business ideas. According to Dealroom, all-women founding teams received just 1.4% of the €23.7bn invested into UK start-ups in 2021, while all-male leadership teams have taken almost 90% of the available capital.

Without financial support, and when juggling significant time pressures both at home and at work, how can women grow their companies and #BreaktheBias (as this year’s International Women’s Day termed it)? What tools or support can save them time and money, and give them the headspace they need to focus on building their business?

With female owned businesses collectively estimating revenue growth of £120 billion over the next five years, solving this problem is bigger than supporting women – it’s about supporting the national economy.

Using tech to level the playing field

There are clearly societal issues at play that need to be resolved. But when we look at the rise in technology businesses during the pandemic, we can plainly see an alternative source of support critical for business growth: digital tools.

A third of female business owners say new technologies will be crucial to the success of their business in the future and one in five say it is the most important thing for business growth.

With new technology comes new ways to pay, create, and work. And yet there are barriers that prevent business owners accessing this technology. Women are significantly more likely to say they want to use more digital tools but don’t know what is best for their business and also more concerned about the security of digital tools.

When technology is adopted by businesses – whether using online accounting solutions or messenger services for communicating with staff – it saves them time, allows them to maintain and grow their customer base, and ultimately increases cost savings and profit.

By drastically improving the training and support that is available to women-owned business to access and utilise technology we will allow these businesses to grow and succeed. And we know there is demand for it.

Research done by the IFC and Dalberg shows that female entrepreneurs are more likely to invest time and money in business development. This includes product development, customer base expansion, and digital tools and training and there are plenty of services available offering this type of support – many of them for free.

One such programme is Strive UK – an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – which aims to reach 650,000 micro and small business owners across the UK and empower them with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy through free guidance, helpful tools and one-to-one mentoring.

Working together with small business experts – Enterprise Nation, Be the Business and Digital Boost – we hope to ensure hundreds of thousands of UK female business owners have the tools they need to succeed and reach their ambitious goals. Because this ambition remains strong in the UK, with female business owners largely optimistic about the future despite the multitude of challenges they are facing. Four in ten say they will grow their business in the next five years – compared to only a third of male business owners – and they’re also 35% less likely than men to say they plan to downsize or close the business.

But if we do not empower female entrepreneurs to access the tools and technology they need to grow, there is a risk this optimism could be misplaced. Support programmes that provide business owners with guidance and mentorship can help ensure this isn’t the case, allowing female entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive in the months and years ahead.