Still not settled…

We are into Dani’s third full week of school and he definitely hates it. He cries as soon as he realises where we are going. He starts off fine and quite happily eats his breakfast and lets me dress him. Even though it is the school uniform it doesn’t seem to bother him. As soon as we arrive at the school however he really lets it all out. “No please daddy. I don’t want to go to school. I want to stay in the car all day”. Yes, that is correct. He would rather stop in the car all day than enter the school. Naturally that would not last very long – if I allowed it – but he certainly gets very upset. I too, do not particularly like the school but for my own different reasons.

Not alone…

Today when we entered the building he clung to me crying his little eyes out. Fortunately (if that is the right word) there was another kid crying – a small girl about the same age as Dani. At least he is not the only one still crying.

Pick up time for the first year kids was 4.30pm for the first two and a half weeks. It was relatively quick and easy. This week it changes to 5pm – the same time as for every other school year in the buildings on that site. They have a clever finger-print recognition system where you press your finger on the reader until it beeps. This in turn shows up in the classroom and the teachers then prepare and bring out your child/children.

School run chaos

Now; efficiency is most definitely not the Spanish strong point. If there is a difficult way of doing something then they will usually take that option. But what I saw at the school at pick-up time bordered on stupidity. There simply is not enough room for all the parents and their vehicles. It is a very small area in a busy city. As if the traffic is not bad enough!? Surely it would make sense to stagger the pick-up times and let the youngest get out first? I would have thought that would be more efficient. This being Spain, chaos must reign supreme. Although I am sure the school run is just as chaotic in most places.

There are only two finger-print identification points and so there were two disorganised queues full of pushy parents – and I mean that literally. Shoving and jostling for position. The gates were not fully open so even the parents who had managed to liberate their children could barely get out as the remaining parents forced their way into the school grounds. It resembled the exit of a large crowded football stadium.

It was pathetic. All I wanted to do was rescue the little lad. As it turned out he seemed quite happy and even said that he had had a good day. Wow. There is hope yet. Let’s see what this morning brings…