Looking ahead
He's three. Most of this site is what we've actually lived. These are the other kind of story: the ones I write before we get there, from the mums who already have.
From mums ahead of me4 to 5 years, not there yetThe playschool bag: what three mums ahead of me told me
We're a year away. Here's what I've been told, what I'm checking, and what I'll do with it.
From mums ahead of me4 to 5 years, not there yetThe water bottle and lunchbox that come home every day
Leaks, lids he can open alone, and the dal that went everywhere: what the mums ahead of me warned me about.
From mums ahead of me4 to 5 years, not there yetFirst cycle: balance bike, training wheels, and the helmet argument
Three mums, three different answers, and the one thing all of them agreed on.
From mums ahead of me4 to 5 years, not there yetSwimming lessons: when, where, and the floaties question
The mums ahead of me disagreed about the age. The guidance I found surprised me.
From mums ahead of meSchool age, not there yetThe school bag, again, but heavier
Trolley or backpack, what the school requires, and the weight rule the mums ahead of me wish they'd known.
From mums ahead of meSchool age, not there yetScreen time once the homework is on a screen
The rules were easy at two. The mums ahead of me say the hard part starts when school hands over a tablet.
Two kinds of story
A story from our home is about something we bought and used. It gets one of three verdicts: cubworthy, with a catch, or did not work for us. The verdict belongs to our home, our stage and the exact item.
A story from mums ahead of me is about a stage we haven't reached. It's what I've been told by friends, neighbours and the mothers in our building whose children are older, plus whatever I've checked for myself before I spend money. It gets no verdict. I can't stamp what we haven't used, and I won't pretend to.
Why I write them anyway
Because this is how preparing for the next stage actually works when you don't have a village. You ask. You write it down. You check the detail that sounds too good. Then you wait and see. Those notes were useful to me before every stage so far, and I'd rather share them with the label on than keep them in my phone.
How to read them
Each one says who told me (first names or "a mum in our building", never more), what they said, what I'm checking, and what I'll do with it. When we reach that stage, the story gets rewritten from our own experience and earns a verdict, or loses one. The old version stays linked so you can see what changed.
If you're a mum ahead of me and something here is wrong, or you'd add a detail, tell me. That's how these notes get better.