Springtime holidays enable opportunities for all sorts of reflection. Our children's centre relaxes and school staff have a chance to arrange meetings with invited families in an informal context. Talking to mothers away from the hurly burly of the school day provides a welcome opportunity to just listen to what they have to say.
The first surprise is that they don't really know each other. In a big urban primary school where everyone lives comparatively short distances from the school, we assume that parents talk to each other in the playground. Not any more. There is a wariness and a sense of keeping yourself safe which cuts across the old-fashioned view that the adults in the community already know each other.
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