September the time for New School Year Resolutions

After sixteen years in the British Education system it has been imprinted in my brain that September is when the New Year starts. You get a new start and you can be a different person to who you were before the summer. Every September you can reinvent yourself as someone who is studious, on time, interesting and in my case on top of things.

Of course its dead lucky that just four months later you get to re-make all these promises to yourself with your New Years Resolutions as that is how long it normally took for me to forget what I was aiming for and fall back to my normal forgetting to study, do my homework, be late, only talk about things I find interesting and nobody else does and of course let everything pile on top of me in some crazy hotch potch way.

This is not a photo of Top Ender on her first day of School doing homework that had to be handed in that day.

This year of course will be no different, I am going to make changes and stick to them, not just for me but as a parent and of course if Top Ender wants to make some then I will support her. And if it turns out that at the end of December we have to make the same personal resolutions again? Well then I will just know that I am consistent in my ways!

As a Mummy however I promise the following resolutions will not be forgotten until at least Easter...

1. We will get to school on time everyday. Yes I know I only live five minutes from school.
2. Top Ender will have clean uniform everyday and her shoes will be polished.
3. I will remind Top Ender to take her PE kit at the start of the week.
4. I will check Top Enders bag for permission slips and return them promptly.
5. Top Ender will have a nutritious lunch everyday.
6. Top Ender will take her bottle of water to school everyday.
7. I won't be late picking Top Ender up. Again, yes I know I practically live next door to the school.
8. I will write all appointments on the calender.
9. I will get Top Ender to do her homework.
10. I will remember to give Top Ender and Baby Boy a healthy after school snack

Yeah who am I kidding? I won't last two weeks.

Top Enders New School Shoes from Clarks

Recently Clarks offered to send me a voucher to buy Top Ender some School Shoes. I ummed and ahhed about accepting it, but in the end I decided that I would. Why? Well I have to buy school shoes for Top Ender and normally they are expensive. We always use Clarks for measuring our children's feet and then the real push was that Tom Cruise annoyed me.

Yes you read right, Tom Cruise annoyed me. Okay so he didn't come up to me personally, but I have just got over now thinking that he is quite nice after seeing him on Top Gear and then he ruined it.

Tom Cruise was on GMTV a while back and for some reason whilst talking about his new film the presenter decided to ask about Suri and her party shoes. I don't follow celebrities but I am aware that Suri is often seen wearing high heels as Top Ender uses this as ammo as to why she at two years older that Suri should be allowed to wear high heels. I can't remember what Tom Cruise said about his daughters shoes but I do know that Clarks offered to measure and fit a pair of shoes that would support Suri's feet, but I don't think that they took up the offer. And if Top Ender is reading this, No you are not allowed high heels.

It has always been drilled into me that before you buy shoes that you should get your feet measured as they do change size, and cramming children's still developing feet into shoes that are too small or cause the bones to grow in a different shape to those that they are supposed to. It was also drilled into me that Children should have their feet measured every six to eight weeks, this does mean it can be expensive but I think worth it.

So we went to our local Milton Keynes Clarks store and took our ticket to await our turn. As is normal in our branch there were several people waiting and we were prepared to wait. Top Ender and I looked at the displays of School Shoes and she decided which ones she liked, whilst I choose the ones that we would ask to try. Top Ender has a thing about patent shoes shoes, which for me are a total no for school, as I like to be able to cover scuff marks with shoe polish!

We are very use to the routine these days, and when our favourite assistant came over (pure chance, but I swear every time we go into the store she serves us!) Top Ender was already removing her Doodles in order to step on the big measuring machine. I remember when you used to step in to holes to have your feet measured... then again I also remember being able to buy penny sweets for a penny!

The machine always amazes me because it is so clever and measures all over Top Enders feet within a few seconds and after the first time we had used it when the assistant showed us how accurate it was by then measuring Top Enders feet with the slidey feet measure thingy and we have never looked back! When the various shoes that we had chosen came down from the stock room (I would love to see the stock room one day!) the fitter helped Top Ender into each shoe and then checked how it fitted round the heel, toe, ankle, over the top of the foot and how comfy it was for Top Ender to walk in.

We tried three different styles of shoes and four different pairs and Top Ender decided in the end that she would like the ones in the picture below and I was quite pleased too as they were the nicest ones (and Clarks only one pair of T-bars this year? You can do better I am sure). She is currently wearing them round the house for five to ten minutes a day, just to make sure that her feet will be comfy in them when she does go back to school in a few short weeks.

Whilst I was talking to the fitter I found out that she has finished University and may not be our fitter for much longer. I would just like to say Thank you Laura for the many shoes that you have fitted and for the wonderful service you have provided us and everyone else you have served!