My son started school in September. As any parent whose children are at, or have been through school knows, this is a time of significant change and can be hard for the children and parents. Noah had been going to nursery two days a week and spent another day with my in-laws. Both of these were close to my wife's work so she would drop him off and pick him up. Because she works part-time, Noah would spend the other two weekdays with his mum and his little sister whilst I worked full-time, albeit mostly from home. Starting school turned this dynamic on its head.

My wife is a teacher and her school is half an hour away so she leaves for work just before 7am. For the first couple of weeks Noah was at school this meant she left before he woke up. And because she doesn't get home until 6pm, he wasn't able to spend much time with her before bed. He found this really difficult and on more than one occasion we've had to deal with a meltdown. As the weeks have gone by he's become used to his routine, and I now wake him up before my wife goes to work so he can give her a big hug and a little chat (he loves a little chat). A month or so in Noah is pretty settled and has a good group of friends.

What about me? I love doing the school run, but in the weeks leading up to school starting I was worried about how it would impact my work. While we have Noah in breakfast club the three days a week my wife works, the after school provision is massively oversubscribed and so I, like many parents, down tools at quarter past three for what could be anything between 20 and 45 minutes depending on Noah's mood, whether he's on his bike or scooter, and how many other kids we're walking home with.

I worried about how many meetings I'd miss. Would I be able to get anything done when we got home? How far behind would I get? My role is also regional, and whilst I have a large amount of autonomy and flexibility, my wife having the car and us living rurally now restricts my travel. Other parents at school are in the same boat. We share stories about checking our emails late at night or sitting our kids in front of the TV for way longer than we usually would so we can join a Teams meeting or get through an overflowing inbox. I'm learning that this is a universal parenting experience and my employer recognises this. I've put the school run in my work calendar so people know I won't be available at that time and joined our families network to help contribute to a family-friendly workplace.

I cherish my morning and afternoon walks with Noah, no matter the weather or the number of times we have to stop at an imaginary car wash or toll booth. Unless it's hyper local, I now travel almost exclusively on Thursdays and Fridays. Is this sustainable in the long run? I don't know, but it's not something I'm going to spend time worrying about. Some things are more important.