DO YOU dread the school run in case you have to talk to the awful parents hanging around the school gate? Here’s how to dodge them:
Be late every day
The perfect excuse to push through the gossiping crowds, turning up just as the teachers are locking the doors means no forced chats about whose eight-year-old is the highest achiever. Okay, you’ll have to sign the late book, but ‘because I’m an anti-social bastard’ is a perfectly valid reason for tardiness.
Become an outcast
Convince the other parents you’re a psychopath and they’ll avoid you at all costs. Carry a couple of dead squirrels hanging from your belt, say you don’t give a f**k about the SATs or simply admit you voted Leave and you’ll have a nice clearance zone around you until that sweet whistle blows.
Suit up
Wear business clothing and look like you’ve got somewhere really important to be. That way when you brush all attempts to engage on the subject of lost school ties aside, everyone will assume you’ve got a key meeting, not that you’re rushing home to watch Judge Rinder with tea and toast.
Screen time
Stare at your mobile phone continuously. If anyone tries to talk to you tell them to put it on the Parents WhatsApp group, which you’re not a member of. This also ensures you’re leading by example and teaching your children how to have a healthy social life in 2019.
Join the PTA
Everybody wants to moan about the quality of their children’s education, but nobody actually wants to sacrifice a weekday evening to doing something about it. Joining the PTA will make everyone terrified to talk to you in case you trick them into running the tombola at the Christmas Fayre. They’ll never bother you again.
