The last week before school. What it's worth doing.

The week before school has a specific texture that I've learned to pay attention to. My daughter is less interested in screens than usual. She comes back to conversations she started and didn't finish. She wants to do things that can't be done once school starts — the particular long walk, the visit to the friend who lives too far away for a school-night trip, the cooking project that requires an afternoon. She is, I think, doing a natural inventory of what she still wants from the summer before the summer closes.

She is, I think, doing a natural inventory of what she still wants from the summer before the summer closes. The week before school is not the time to add preparation activities. It is the time to be present in the ordinary.

She is, I think, doing a natural inventory of what she still wants from the summer before the summer closes. The week before school is not the time to add preparation activities. It is not the time to buy stationery or organise the school bag. Those things serve the parent's anxiety, not the child's. She comes back to conversations she started and didn't finish. She wants to do things that can't be done once school starts.