Fresh start? That back-to-school feeling is for adults, too

And it marks the real start of the year for many of us, whether schools and children are part of the equation or not - a time to set some bold new intentions, with the fun season now well and truly behind us.

It's fair to say that it's baked into our psyches, this new year feeling a full month out from the calendar event.

Just as those in the northern hemisphere are driven to buy new stationery and begin things afresh as the leaves start to turn in September, there's a sense of holidays being placed on the metaphorical mantelpiece and tools being taken up, as the real year kicks off.

This is despite the habitually soaring February temperatures and, more often than not, a soporific quality that makes new projects, workplaces and classrooms hard to engage with fully.

At any rate, the traffic certainly picks up.

And for those parents among us, it's a chance to find positive ways to engage with our children's learning.

Whether your kids are starting school for the first time, or embarking on their final years of high school, there's always room for parents or grandparents to play a role in their lives and education.

The recently implemented social media ban - talked about for so long, now more or less a fact of life - has been as good an opportunity to reassess how children are actually interacting with the world.

We already know about our own troubled relationships with devices and technology.

The ban has been a useful circuit-breaker as children have become too closely enmeshed in the worlds created for them by cynical tech companies with little or no interest in the damaging effects of their product.

The Australian government took a risk in putting the ball in the major platforms' court.

The move has yet to backfire, and several other countries around the world are watching with interest.

But in thousands of Australian homes this week, families aren't comparing the ban to a tennis match.

We've had a full two months to adjust to a world with far less social media, at least in the hands of our children.

And with the routine and rigour of school back in the equation, households can once again adapt to the rhythms of school.

It's a useful way to approach the calendar, even if you don't have kids; time to knuckle down, and work on towards the next holiday.

And for families, it's a chance to embrace the village aspect of raising a child, the sense that the community is far greater than the one in a single household.

Many Australian public primary schools have events that involve parents visiting their children's classrooms, to see what the kids have been up to for all those hours beyond our sight and hearing.

It's often a lovely revelation, a glimpse into a busy, industrious and charming world that exists even without us.

It's worth paying attention to this world even outside these designated days, if only to remind us of the parallel lives our children have that, at least sometimes, deserve our full attention.

It can only be grounding, to place our adult problems into perspective.

Or, you can just remember your own days at school, and how optimistic those first weeks back could feel.

Forget new year's resolutions, dry January and optimistic gym memberships.

February is, and always has been, our month to switch on and get things done, no matter your age.