Maura Derrane has admitted she cried at the gates when her son Cal started school last month.
The popular RTE star revealed she had an awful start to her education and was worried how her five-year-old would cope in the same situation.
She said: “I cried, it was so sad. I was worse than him.
“I hated school and my sister Roisin had to be sent with me because I went cracked so many times.
“I guess I was quite sheltered because I was the eldest in the family and it was just too much for me.
“It was almost like I was getting married again on his first day of school.
“You know the way people say weddings are stressful? I was more stressed out on his first day of school than my wedding.
“I was so worried about him but nothing happened and he just walked through the door.”
Maura carefully chose a school in Dungarvan, Co Waterford – where she lives with husband John Deasy – because she knew Cal would feel better in a smaller environment as he doesn’t have siblings.
She said: “First of all, I picked the smallest school that I could and there are only 15 people in his class. It is a lovely school and his teacher is fabulous.
“They have salsa every Wednesday and he came home last week and said, ‘Mummy, I was dancing with April twice today’, and I was like, ‘Who is April?’. It turns out April is his dance teacher.”
The 49-year-old presenter will still do the morning drop-off, Cal’s childminder will pick him up after school and Maura will rush home to put him to bed.
But doesn’t she find it hard to switch off from being a mother while alongside Daithi O’Se on The Today Show.
She added: “I can go from one to the other. I was in mum mode right up until the show came back. He is talking a lot more and doing his own thing, but he is still a baby at five years old.
“I think he will miss me more this year. I was back to work four months after he was born so he never really knew any different and he was easily minded by other people. But now he is more aware of when I am not there.”
- Maura was speaking from Portugal where she travelled for a photoshoot with her three sisters for RSVP Magazine which will be on the shelves on Tuesday.
