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Forget Labubu, check out my daughter’s Legami pens
by Patrick Vogt
The new school year’s knocking our old routines out of whack
27.8.2025
Translation: Katherine Martin
Back to school means back to reality. The thing is, it’s a different reality. Now that the holidays are over, the children have a new schedule. The rest of us in the family, however, are still playing catch-up. As it turns out, it’s not that easy to completely reorganise your life once a year.
Until it becomes clear who’s going where and when. And who’s eating where and when. We’ve settled that second question with family friends due to a widespread aversion to food served at after-school club.
Another balance that needs to be struck with every passing year is the children’s increasing organisational skills. The older kids get, the better they’re supposed to be able to organise themselves. And often, they really do want to. This makes some things easier, since it stops everything from being dumped on parents.
At orientation events, all I have to do is come along, soak up the information and somehow try not to attract any negative attention. «At least I’m still allowed to breathe,» sighs a mum friend, whose daughter had said, «Just don’t ask any questions!» to her beforehand. I smile and nod quietly. I reckon I can manage to stand in the corner and look interested. And besides, it’s okay for parents to fade further and further into the background as time goes on.
At parents’ evenings, I no longer have to comment on my kids’ drawings, explaining to the group how the four pencil-drawn sticks on the paper are supposed to represent our family. I’m no longer responsible for correctly packing every gym bag. However, as kids’ organisational skills increase, the challenges presented by school life increase, creating more stress to be relieved.
Plan? What plan?
Timetables are becoming increasingly packed, strengthening the need for organisation. Parents have stepped into a role that resembles something between a counsellor and an IT support tech. When it comes to tech, I ask myself what the best way to communicate all this information is. Information that sometimes reaches the kids, sometimes reaches us parents, and turns up anywhere and everywhere.
Whether it’s among piles of paper on my desk, crumpled up in a school bag, on the school app Klapp or, more recently, shared in folders and teams, posted in WhatsApp groups or Signal chats, sent by e-mail or carrier pigeon. Anything’s possible. Well, except synchronising a mess like that into a paper family planner. At least in my case.
The fuller a calendar gets, the more chaotic it can look at first glance. That’s why I end up peering in bewilderment at family apps like Shubidu or Familywall, wondering whether they actually simplify everyday planning or just add to the information overload.
One thought has been comforting me during these difficult first few weeks. Most appointments will soon become routine, and family life will go back to running like clockwork. We’re a series of interlocking cogs, occasionally having to give each other a nudge. I don’t want to think beyond that just yet. Because in ten months’ time, when the end of the school year rolls around, it’ll be time to reset the clock once again.
Michael Restin
Senior Editor
Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.chSimple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.
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