Cutting one clinic session so I'm home after school. Worth it at nine?

I went down to part-time advisory work when my daughter was eight, so I can tell you what changed and what didn't. The afternoons themselves were not the big gain; she mostly wanted a snack and some quiet. What mattered was being available for the things that come up at short notice at that age: a class assembly, a fall during games, a friend problem that can't wait till 8 pm. Whether that's worth a session's income is something only you can weigh. I haven't fully settled whether it was the right trade for me either.

Mine is grown up now, but nine to twelve was when she told me the most, and nearly all of it came out in the car or in the kitchen, never when I asked directly. The people saying they need you less are thinking of physical care. The talking needs you more, I would say. My amma told me the same thing back then and I didn't listen for two years.

One practical thing before you decide: ask whether you can take the session back later if it doesn't work out, or whether it's gone once your colleague builds a patient list on it. Where I work, sessions that get handed over rarely come back. If it's reversible, I'd try it for a term. Sounds like you already know what you noticed this summer ❤️

Can't speak for nine, mine is still at the stage where she needs me for literally everything 😄 But my mother cut down her teaching hours when my brother was in class 5 and I was in class 8, and both of us still remember it. Not the hours so much as the fact that she chose to. Might be worth asking him what he'd want that afternoon to be before you plan it.

from the school side, the class 4 kids whose parent turns up at pickup now and then aren't different on paper. but they tell their teachers about it. 'amma came today'. i hear that a lot at that age, more than from the little ones