I never got it previously when I heard mums bemoaning the Class teddy/pet. Before my daughter started school last year, I thought….awwwww how sweet! A class teddy or pet that the children take turns with bringing home…surely that’s utterly adorable???!

BA HA HA how wrong was I???!

Now we are almost at the end of the school year and have had the class teddy – or more pet in our case – we have elephants, you see – I now know that no, this is not sweet but totally and utterly stressful!

Yes I am sorry to all those mums who went before like Confessions of a Crummy Mummy, when I doubted your pessimism and sometimes full on dread around the class teddy/pet coming home because I know now what an utter nightmare it can be. If you’re reading this as a newbie to school life and wondering what on earth I am drivelling on about then ho ho ho! just you wait! And if you’re a veteran of the class teddy/pet, you can go ahead and give me that all-knowing look because you have been there done that. If you’re the former, pay close attention. If you’re the latter, we’re on the same team yeah? So here goes, here’s what really happen when the class/teddy comes home:

You will start off thinking it is lovely!

Ahhhh your child is so excited! Finally it’s their turn after so many weeks of waiting to have the class teddy/pet. Praise be! Look at their little happy face. Isn’t it a picture?

You will soon cotton on to how things really are

You soon realise that everything your child has to do, the class teddy/pet has to do. This can be a particular nightmare during time sensitive situations like getting your child to go to bed at bedtime, fed, or taken to school. As if things weren’t complicated enough, you now have to meet the needs of a stuffed toy too. Happy days! Not.

Then the fear sets in

As you realise you need to take the damn thing EVERYWHERE you start behaving not too unlike the Class Pet aka stuffed toy’s personal bodyguard…monitoring its every move and checking in on its whereabouts every other minute for fear than you may be the ignoramus parent that loses it. You will follow your little being around everywhere professing “Hey you forgot Eddie!” or whatever their name is over and over – so many times that you will definitely lose count, and basically sound like an insane person for the entire duration of your furry guest’s stay…

You will almost lose it – many times over

At the soft play, in an isle at Tesco’s, down the side of their bed, everywhere and anywhere in the house and everywhere you go, and god help you if you were like us the second time over and have it the entire half term week when you go away and have to take the godforsaken thing with you then you can expect to double that number of times you almost lose it….and throw in a strong likelihood that you DO actually lose it (as I did – and then expect sobbing from your child all throughout the day and heartbreakingly at bedtime as if the end of the world had really arrived).

You will feel totally inferior compared to those who went before

When it comes to looking back through what the class pet or teddy did with everyone else in that lovely book of theirs, you will experience a crushing feeling of being an inferior mum – as you flick through pages and pages worth of history of amazing events and experiences – oh look! they took him to see Strictly live! Oh wow he went sky diving with that family (ok just joking on that second one – by you get my drift).

You will be so pleased to return them (your child will not)

And then that glorious day arrives – when you get to return the class teddy or pet.

Halle-fricking-lujah!

You practically skip along on the school run at the thought of returning it, like waving goodbye to a terrible house guest. Your little one…meanwhile..will not let you enjoy the closure, but keep reminding you how much they miss them, every time they get the chance to which is – you guessed it – ALL THE TIME!

And with all that said – yes it’s true! We did lose the class teddy! We were the ones! After guarding it over a bank holiday weekend, going camping and then two beaches later we thought we had made it into the rest of the half term break (yet more guarding) only to arrive back, unpack an unworldly load of goods from our groaning car off the back of camping only to discover that our class pet was probably still sunning itself on a beach in East Sussex.

I won’t even bore you with the whole rigmarole of then  replacing the class pet which quite frankly is a WHOLE OTHER BLOG POST!

Happy class pet hosting to you all!

Have you experienced the joys of the class pet/teddy? Do you have some funny/stressful stories to share? Or perhaps your child is starting school and you’re wondering what on earth I’m rabbiting on about. Do share in a comment below.

***Did this post tickle you? If so please do give it a share on Facebook, Twitter, or a Stumble thank you so much!***

The post What really happens when the class teddy/pet comes home from school appeared first on Motherhood: The Real Deal.