La Rentrée

Today is La Rentrée here in France. The day when all the kids go back to school and normality is restored. It’s a big thing over here. Not quite the American Back to School with the signs and photos of the first day back, but it’s very much a thing in our own French way.

I must admit, la rentrée is a blessing for those of us that have had our darling offspring at home with us 24/7 for two months. I am lucky that I work from home and could always juggle my kids during the summer holidays. Here they pretty much start at the end of June, unless the kids are in a step-up end-of-year and have their exams; the Brevet for the end of collège (secondary school) and the dreaded BAC (Baccalaureat) for the lycéens (sixth form).

At La Rentrée they allow the first years of each stage of schooling to go in, with their parents, for the first day, so as to be slightly less overwhelmed. You can tell the stage of parent too. The ones crying as they leave their babies are either leaving their first born, or their last, and are experiencing the onset of empty nest syndrome.

Some more jaded parents, and I include myself in this group, have done this first day new stage, four times! My eldest to collège then eventually to lycée where he was a border, my eldest twin to collège then to lycée where he was also a border, his twin brother, who redoubled his year in primary school and went off to collège and lycée a year behind, and finally my youngest, she has been through the whole scholastic experience here, maternelle (kindergarten/nursery), primary (infants and juniors), collège and now I have just done a two hour trip to take her to her lycée for her final year. My daughter is me, she’s just got a tons more self-confidence and self-awareness, so these last two months started of great, but by the middle of August I was chomping at the bit for La Rentrée!

However, it’s not only the schools that return at the beginning of September, many, many companies shut their doors, completely, for several weeks during August. Those that don’t, often stagger their congés (holidays), which makes life interesting when trying to organise tradesmen to do work that relies on material from factories that are shut until September! Now, in theory, everyone is back at work and life can restart again in France! Hooray! Until “le fete de la fin d’année” at the end of the year, when we shut down again for two weeks!

There’s something special about La Rentrée, the new exercise books; each teacher has their own preference for the size of exercise book, the number of pages they contain and the size of the squares therein, the pencil cases, the diaries (not just any diary, they run from August to August and are used to write down the homework assignments), the pens and pencils, felt tips, colouring pencils, paper, tracing paper, scissors, glue sticks, filing binders, rulers etc. Shopping for La Rentrée was, and is ,one of the most stressful moments of my life, especially when my boys and my daughter were all in the education system together! I had my first introduction to hot sweats during these stressful shops. A try-out for the menopause if you will!

Personally, I love La Rentrée because I get to indulge my love of stationery and buy myself (after the kids have gone back to school of course) a new A4 exercise book to scribble thoughts in, and that will go the way of all the others that preceded it. Namely, the first dozen pages will be used in the manner to which I had wanted, the rest will be used to write shopping lists or to-do lists. It was ever thus! Maybe this is the year it all changes?! I also treat myself to incredibly girly pens in ridiculously pastel colours together with the obligatory girly pencil case to go with them! No more grafitti on my pencil case, no siree, I’ve long grown out of the and Joni loves Chachi declarations of amour and pictures of hearts with an arrow through them, indeed nowadays woe betide anyone that doesn’t put a lid on a pen that then leaks in my said holder of pens!

I have a client who loves September and the back to school vibe and schedules a lot of her courses to start at this time. The endless possibilities of the start of a new school year, spill over into work life. I like this idea.

Personally, I lean more towards spring rather than autumn as the fresh-start, turn-over a new leaf, moment. Everything is coming back to life and we plant our seeds for a bountiful harvest in autumn.

Then there’s the stalwart New Year that starts on the 1st January, slap bang in the middle of winter, a bit of an odd time for a fresh start, but a popular one.

I don’t think it really matters when you make your fresh start, your new year, your “La Rentrée”, it doesn’t even matter how many you make, it’s a “YOU” decision and if it doesn’t happen to be January, April or September, as long as do it, you’re already half way to where you want to be.

Happy La Rentrée!