There will be a realisation many parents will face over the next couple of weeks. That realisation is that their babies are no longer their babies.
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There will be tears and trauma at primary schools across the Illawarra .... and that will just be from the parents.
Children will be graduating from Grade 6 and that brings along with it mixed feelings. For everyone.
Excitement and anticipation as the children prepare to leave their safe haven of many years for the bigger, broader world of high school. For parents it's a rude awakening that life is moving on too fast.
It's the realisation that you are perhaps closer to wearing nappies again than they once were. Sigh.
Seriously though, seeing your child grow through these stages, as challenging as those times can sometimes be, is one of the most rewarding things life can offer.
We've watched our adorable, chubby-cheeked eldest grow into a fine young daughter any parent would be proud to call their own.
A creative and caring spirit, who is just a little bit zany and known to snort when the laughter overtakes her.
This week a letter to the editor arrived in the inbox (they used to arrive on the desk but it's 2019 now) and it was lamenting the education system and the approach it takes with kids today.
The letter writer lamented: "Suffice to say, stock standard education subjects at that school are secondary to large chunks of time spent on nonsense lessons like empathy."
I could not strongly disagree more and am delighted at the approach our daughter's future high school takes to growing the child as an individual as a whole being not just their academic side.
The challenges our children face today and will face into the future are so much different than even the ones my generation faced. They are world's apart.
To our daughter, if you are ever inclined to read you boring dad's columns into the future, please know we are incredibly proud of you and the delightful young person you have become.
And thank you to the little school in Shellharbour for caring for her and nurturing her the last few years.
Julian O'Brien is the editor of the Illawarra Mercury
