"What if people tease him?" Sophie Cachia just voiced every school-age parent's first-day anxieties.

Like thousands of parents in the same boat, emotions were high for Sophie Cachia whose eldest son started school today.

This morning the mummy blogger, influencer and businesswoman shared a series of photos of five-year-old Bobby, who was all smiles in his uniform. However, things looked a lot less calm the night before.

Although they recently confirmed their split, Sophie appeared in an Instagram TV video alongside Bobby’s dad, Jaryd Cachia, in which she shared her conflicting feelings around Bobby starting school.

Watch Sophie and Jaryd Cachia talk about sending their son, Bobby, to school for the first time. Post continues below.

What started out as “really raw organic and authentic conversation” between the parents ended up with Sophie crying – the first time she had done so.

“I don’t know what I’m feeling. I don’t think I’m feeling sad, I think I’m feeling nostalgic, looking back at baby photos,” she began.

“I remember giving birth to him,” she continued, tearing up. “I feel him as a baby still and now he’s this boy. He’s got his hat and he’s got his bag on and he’s ready to go. I’m not sad at all because I’m going to miss him at home because I will. I’m just nostalgic and feeling really sentimental. It’s our first of firsts.”

Jaryd appeared less worried, saying: “I haven’t thought about anything I’ve been scared of for him just because he’s been so happy and excited.”

While Sophie admitted that she was more prone to thinking “about the worst things,” the mum-of-three relayed her anxieties – something parents of school-age kids will be able to relate to.

“What if no one plays with him? And what if people tease him? This is not supposed to happen. We live very close to Bobby’s school. My biggest fear is that I’ll drive past and I’ll see him in the playground on his own,” she said, half-joking but evidently crying.

“Or what if he doesn’t like his sandwich I make him and he doesn’t eat anything and he’s hungry? What if everyone else has really yummy food and my lunch box sucks? What if he can’t find a toilet? Oh my god. What if his shoe comes off and he can’t put it back on? What if he loses his jumper and he’s freezing cold and he’s too scared to tell the teacher because she might tell him off?”

“I’m nervous cause of everything a parent could possibly ever worry about is going [through] my head but I have confidence in him as a person and in his teacher and he’s going to be fine. I just don’t know how he’s going to remember where the toilet is.”

 

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A post shared by SOPHIE CACHIA (@sophiecachia_) on Jan 17, 2020 at 12:53am PST

First day nerves aside, Sophie and Jaryd also spoke about their decision to hold Bobby back a year. Born in April, Bobby could have started school in 2019, but she said they “were really never going to send him” then.

“We’re very sport-focused and if we sent him he would have been the youngest in all of his sporting groups,” she shared.

“Not only that I think he’s absolutely emotionally, mentally, physically ready. I think he could have gone last year but we’ve made the right decision.”

Sophie also touched on her experiences with school bullying, something she still remembers a decade later.

“People were horrible to me at school. I’ll never forget and I’m still affected to this day,” she said.

“My best group of friends who I had gone all through high school with came up to me one day out of the blue, and all four of them said ‘we don’t want you to be our friend anymore,’ for no reason. And I didn’t do anything wrong and they just decided they didn’t want me to be their friend anymore. That was the worst thing that happened to me at school.

“We’ve always said this all along: you don’t want your kid to be bullied but you don’t want your kid to be the bully and I want Bobby to stay as nice as he is forever.”

 

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A post shared by SOPHIE CACHIA (@sophiecachia_) on Feb 2, 2020 at 12:27am PST

In contrast to the influencer’s teary video, the mum-of-three previously wrote about how excited she was about Bobby starting school.

“Lots of stress, lots of emotion, lots of anxiety and lots of tears often surround the idea of our child starting primary school – but is anyone like me and doing a gigantic F**K YEAH from the rooftop,” she shared on January 23.

“I’m pumped because I know my little man is SO READY and I can see the excitement in his face every single day when he asks ‘how many more sleeps til I start school?’. He’s ready, so I’m ready..

“As his mum, I grew him, I brought him earthside, I’ve led him here to this moment and it’s now time to hand over the reins and my trust into the capable hands of his educators for the next 13 years. In to primary school walks my sweet five-year-old best friend holding my hand, and out will strut my 18-year-old grown son [hopefully still with his man bun!] I stand proud that at 23 years old I birthed this young guy and I’m proud of where we’ve gotten him so far.”

Ultimately, her feelings of excitement around Bobby starting school remained, despite the (understandable) apprehension, emotions and nerves.

“He’s so sensitive and he’s so emotional. You have to explain things different to Bobby because he thinks really logically and really in-depth and he’s always three steps ahead of you. Anyway, I think I’m just being a mum the night before my baby goes to school. And that’s the thing, he’s my baby,” she said.

“And now the journey continues… well really it sort of starts all over again. I feel like we’ve done the first journey. We made it to the finish line… and now we start again. He’ll always be our baby boy. We were babies when we had him and now I’m 30 this year. Maybe that’s why I’m really crying.

“I need an ice cream, a glass of wine and some sleep.”

And goodness, she deserves it.

Feature image: @SophiaCachia_

Have your kids returned to school this week? Tell us in a comment below.