Normally when I pick up Adrian at preschool the place is half empty. I’m neither the first nor the last to arrive – just late enough so that things have calmed down a bit. But this afternoon Adrian’s preschool had a parents’ fika, i.e. coffee and cake for all the kids and their parents. Adrian was a bit tired so when we left the fika was still underway. Many of the kids were still there, plus a parent or two for most of them, and some siblings as well.

This is the mess that met us in their cloakroom. I don’t normally see it in this state because when we leave, maybe half the kids have left already and taken their clothes with them. And often they are playing out in the yard when I arrive, so the clothes are on the kids instead of on their hooks. But now: all their clothes, plus bags, dropped toys, super important drawings mixed up with random pieces of paper… It struck me that this is probably not an unusual sight during daytime, when the clothes of two groups of kids (30+ in total) are crammed into this small room. And I tried to imagine what this room looks and feels like when those kids try to put their clothes on to go outside…