Plett Rage

One more matric exam to go – and so ends 13 years of formal schooling. The exams have gone well as far as stress levels are concerned. It has been a bit of a military operation with the mocks being the practice run. We have combined modern medicine and complementary health approaches with good diet and exercise. Yoga and Boot Camp have been useful when she felt like knocking her brother over the head (or me). But, as someone commented last week, for someone who has been writing exams for weeks, she is looking damn good!

And now looms another rite of passage – the dreaded Plett Rage. Traditionally after the final exams, the matrics from all over the country hit the beaches for one big party. In the Western Cape it’s off to Plettenberg Bay. This is a newish tradition, certainly not one that was around when I was doing matric. Every maternal instinct is screaming out against it – I keep thinking of hundreds of teenagers, newly empowered with driving licences and legally able to imbibe alcohol, wanting to shake off 13 years of institutionalised learning – sounds like a lethal mix to me.

But everyone is going. Everyone. I know there are other parents who are concerned, especially about getting to Plett which is 5 hours drive away. I have made one rule, which is that she is not driving up in a car operated by a teenager or someone who recently passed their driver’s licence test.

There appears to be structures in place and activities seem to be organised in so far as they can be. I guess this is the part where I have to trust that she can go out there and have a good time while holding onto all that she has learnt at home. And hope that she will be safe.