Triplets support one another to face brave new world

It’s the first real upheaval in their lives that every child must endure.

It is the milestone every parent should feel proud their little one has reached. But that doesn’t stop them having to choke back their own tears — “But he/she is only a baby”.

Suddenly, from the comfort of home or crèche, it’s into the dog-eat-dog world of junior infants. Sitting at desks in weird clothes that everyone else seems to have copied, they are confronted by a large stranger who is shouting orders at them and telling them what to do.

For some children going to school for the first time yesterday, though, the adage of “a problem shared is a problem halved” came true.

Whenever tissue-toting mums and dads were finally ushered from the classroom, there was still a familiar face.

Whenever the reality sank in that this was the way life was going to be for the foreseeable future, nervous twins and triplets could sneak a furtive glance at their brother or sister and know that at least they were not facing this battle alone.

There was comfort too for those with older brothers, sisters or cousins in the same school as they at least had the fallback of moral support nearby.

Sitting pretty were triplets Seán, Micheál, and Pádraig Casey as they began their school life yesterday.

Not only did they have the support of each other when they began the new junior infants class in the national school in Sneem, Co Kerry, they also had the back-up of their sister Caitriona, 7, who is already a pupil there.

Buoyed by that support, as well as that of their parents Vincent and Margaret, they had been looking forward to school.

Two of the boys, who will be five tomorrow, sang in the family car as they made the 9km journey from their home at Bohocogram, on the Caherdaniel side of Sneem.