40 years of school ends today.

Wow, 40 years of being a parent to school-age children. That is incredible. Bravo to you! As others have said, one suggestion for finding a purpose now that your kids are no longer at school would be to write about your experience of being a parent to your three kids with large age-gaps!!! I'd love to read about this (and if you need a ghost-writer DM me!)

Gosh. We have first/middle/high school. Our middle school is rondel and I am very sad that I'll be going to my last summer concert there tonight, before my youngest starts high school in a couple of weeks (they do a transition fortnight), I've only got 2 children, and only 3 years between them. Middle school has only been part of our lives for 6 years, but it's been such a good school. I am far more emotional about this than my eldest's prom.

Wow that is incredible! I can understand how you feel as I think school gives us routine and also a social life in a sense.

I am fascinated! What made you decide on the age gaps?

I remember someone I used to work with who was the youngest in a family of five where there were huge age gaps. She said that her Mum was pension age when she was still at school. This meant that, as in those days most benefits could be collected at the Post Office, her Mum was the only person turning up to simultaneously collect OAP and Child Benefit!

Wow what an achievement! I expected you to say you were retiring from teaching. You will have seen some changes.
Now you will have more time for you and relaxing, meeting friends, new hobbies.
Why not consider being a school Governor? You would have a lot to give.

That's huge!

I started to completely disengage with school when they start secondary, Y7 here, so it's a much much smaller part of my life. Mine are quite independent, so knowing that I will just glance at school reports if they are very good is a good motivation. If they start getting down, they'll have me on their back.

It removed a huge mental load frankly.

Have you thought about getting your own "degree' (anything equivalent) in something new? Could be anything, medical, history, foreign language. I don't know. It would occupy your brain, do something for you, and you will actually enjoy the free space you just got.

Physically, as normal, boost your social life and your job - whatever you are doing

@RapunzelsSplitEnds we really need a 😮 emoji!! There ought to be an award or letter from the Monarch for that achievement. I am 20 years in, one more year to go until I am in the same boat… I have no idea whether I could have stayed sane with another 20 years of it ahead of me. Kudos to you (and other PP’s celebrating the end of the school run/PTA meeting!)

I can see why it will leave a void.

If the OP is a woman, that means first child born in 1981, last one possibly in 2007. A very wide age gap.

Though for someone like Mick Jagger, it will be much larger.

I felt exactly the same. It’s very very weird having no school runs, no pack lunch to make, no uniforms to wash, no waking them up at a certain time. We had a kind of down time, slobby time to begin with 😳
I found that as they moved into the next chapter, whether it was uni, college, work, our family dynamic just adapted quite naturally with it. I definitely felt lost for a while though.

Thats got to be a record for span divided by number of children! Unless you're a bloke maybe, though even then its going some!

So far i have done 24 years and i still have 4 years to go. So done with it all.

@RapunzelsSplitEnds why did you leave such huge gaps between children??? I had my first in 1980(since died) and have her children living with us now. I am struggling at 70 doing the school run for 15 and 16 year old grandchildren (they go to schools in different towns) and running around cooking meals for hollow legs!

I do remember this feeling OP. Slightly bereft. Wondering if there was still purpose to my life.
Ah, but of course there is :) It's just that school and all its demands seem to take up so much time.
I only did around 22 years of it, but still felt a strange loss when it was over. However, this soon turned into a 'lightness' - no more burden of school shoes, uniform, PE Kit, timetables, equipment, homework, school bus passes blah blah blah. No more holidays tied to term times.
Once you get over the initial 'bereftness' you will begin to feel free. The open road is ahead of you, and your DCs are walking on their own now (with the occasional hand-hold and mum support of course!)
Have a little weep for the times past - and enjoy the good times ahead! x

That really is an amazing span of experience, @RapunzelsSplitEnds!

Tell me - has MN made a difference to your child rearing, or how you see yourself in your maternal role?

Other than that was there anything that made a bigger difference than the Internet in the way you brought up and interacted with your children?

You deserve a medal that's a huge parenting achievement. No wonder you feel lost. I like PPs suggestion of booking a term time holiday to mark new beginnings.

My Mum felt like this too. 11 years between youngest and oldest children. In the early days we used to go home for lunch too, so 8 trips a day to and from school!

I completely feel this! Mine don't have quite as big a gap as yours, but my eldest started primary school in 2008 and my youngest will finish in 2032, so I will have been in schools for 24 years! I'm going to hold onto the lack of panic in August for uniform/shoes and avoiding fines for taking holidays in term time. But I will also be very lost!

@RapunzelsSplitEnds how old are you OP? and what are the age gaps between your kids???

Wow!I had done 20 years of School Runs and felt like a veteran. It's surprising really.I felt a bit like you it's the end of an era or several. We have a dog as well,Shes very good company .And we can take our time on walks ,no rushing home to go on School Run.Take your time and enjoy the Summer ,You will be a new woman in winter.Its a bit like retirement ,Mum used to say she was so busy she didnt know how she found time to go to work!