What a year inside my daughter's kindy classroom taught me about school, kids and letting go.

Time is a slippery little sucker. No more so than when you experience it through the growth and development of a child.

One minute, you're shepherding your baby into the schoolyard in their oversized uniform that sits below their knees and panic-Googling 'best lunchboxes for kids who don't eat sandwiches'.

Blink and suddenly, the dress is already too small, and they can read, write and do their times tables better than you.

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This year, I had a front-row seat to my daughter's kindy class and I was lucky enough to spend most Friday mornings helping her superb, Miss-Honey-like teacher with literacy groups. I spent 12 magical months watching 18 tiny people learn, grow and become part of a wonderful school community.

I won't lie. Some weeks, one hour of my stint felt like one week. The match fitness one needs to spend time in a kindergarten class is superhuman! Managing multiple demands and skill levels at once, trying to remember how to spell things correctly (even as a writer, you psyche yourself out when you can't just whip out your phone to Google it), and not looking like you're going to combust with the overstimulation is no mean feat.

This is why we must doff our collective caps to kindergarten teachers. The spectrum of five-year-olds and six-year-olds in a classroom is so wide-ranging, and to witness a kindy teacher in action, meeting all of their needs with ease, is nothing short of inspiring.

But I also know how much of a privilege it was to be there. Having the job flexibility to allow for the commitment and the honour of witnessing my daughter in the wilderness with her classmates is something I'll treasure forever and hope to do with my second child in a few years, too.

By the end of the year, the entire class's progress in reading and writing was astounding; my heart could have burst with pride for them all. According to parenting educator and author Gen Muir from Connected Parenting, the amount of new information a child processes in their first year of education is equivalent to moving overseas and learning a new language.

School mum life. Image: Supplied.

It really is a mammoth 12 months (and beyond!).

Here's everything the first year of school really teaches you as a parent — the stuff no orientation booklet prepares you for.

I didn't sob on the first day of school.

I thought I'd be a blubbering mess, but honestly, I was just too proud of my girl for being so brave and walking into her classroom with her head held high that there was no space for tears.

It was the quieter, more joyful moments that blindsided me. Like watching her sing in the school choir for the first time (you try to listen to 50-something beautiful souls perform 'We're Going to Be Friends' by The White Stripes and hold it together), or when she was given her first award in assembly — standing proud in the shadow of the towering, older kids — that's when I welled up.

Teaching has changed A LOT since the '90s.

You know the kids are doing alright when it's your six-year-old daughter who has to explain to you what the eff a digraph and a trigraph is (Google it).

I definitely can't remember the methods my kindy teacher used, but these days it's all about an evidence-based approach called structured literacy. It brings together phonics, sight words, and comprehension, supported by initiatives such as at-home readers and the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge. The big focus is on phonics, helping children understand the connection between letters and sounds.

Witnessing this all in action as an adult has been mind-blowing and a fantastic refresher on the rules and mechanics of the English language. When I was in kindy, I think I knew the words 'cat', 'mat', and 'sat'. Kids today are already writing gripping narrative page-turners, poetry and prose.

It's not just the academics that take priority, either. There's also a strong emphasis on social and emotional development at this age, along with building confidence. From group dance performances to public speaking presentations on their favourite books or meaningful places in the community, this holistic approach that's offered to kids is amazing.

There's no such thing as a 'teacher's pet' in kindy, and it's so damn refreshing.

Instead, it's just little people doing their best with their developing brains, social skills and attention spans.

They're all genuinely so chuffed when they do something that impresses the teacher, and their classmates are equally thrilled for them — clapping for their mate if they get a merit award or kudos. It's an important reminder that all kids are good people at their core.

The 'letting go' is real.

Watching them face playground politics without swooping in is painful. But that's the whole point of letting them learn social dynamics on their own. And you'll be so proud of them when they do inevitably stick up for themselves or diffuse conflict.

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Kindy teachers are a special kind of saint and the backbone of society.

They deserve millions for what they do. If only we could bottle even a fraction of their patience, wisdom and kindness.

This is followed closely by the class parents, who do a stellar job of getting us rookies through the first year. I found our WhatsApp comms organised, clear and streamlined — not at all like the horror stories you hear. You can certainly tell it's not their first rodeo!

In 2025, kids still love the simple things.

While the outside world might be full of complicated technology and fancy toys begging for our children's attention, the OG schoolyard equipment is often the only place they want to be.

When I asked my daughter what her favourite thing about school was, she didn't miss a beat and said, 'The monkey bars!' — and her calloused hands from hours of swinging prove it! The ultimate conversation starter for a kindy kid? 'How many monkey bars can you skip?' The higher the number of bars = the higher the level of one's street cred.

Extracurricular burnout is real.

By term three, dragging an exhausted six-year-old to swimming lessons in the arvo after school became a battle. So we pressed pause and everyone was much happier. It's okay to cut things out; less really is more for kindy kids.

Lunchboxes are honestly not that deep or complex.

In the months leading up to my daughter starting school, my algorithm clearly knew I was a soon-to-be school parent and fed me an overwhelming amount of lunchbox content. From $75 contraptions that can apparently do everything except for my tax return to homemade mini-quiches prepped on a Sunday evening, lunchboxes have officially lost the plot.

If you're about to start packing them for the first time, I beg of you, please push back against the Instagram Bento Box Olympics. Instead, I prefer to channel a chill '90s parent. My husband and I make a simple lunchbox with healthy options they'll actually eat (our go-tos have been things like mini cucumbers and carrots, peaches, corn thins, bananas, wraps and dried mango).

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We also told our daughter to do market research in the playground. If she sees a tasty snack in a friend's lunchbox, report back, and we'll source it for her. Spoiler alert — kids just want food they'll actually eat and the stuff you have no doubt been giving them at home since before they started school. The end. (Oh, and a Friday lunch order still absolutely slaps).

Designer water bottles are a waste of time.

They'll lose them and/or won't even be able to open them to refill them in the middle of the day. We ended up sending our daughter with a good-old-fashioned, easy-to-use screw top one so she could undo it, and told her that when in doubt, just go to the bubbler.

The best part of every day?

When my daughter bolts out of the classroom door into my arms. I scoop her up and we spin around. It's the best five seconds of my day.

Feature image: Supplied.