Jamie Lynn Spears on daughter Maddie’s graduation: ‘A freight train’

Jamie Lynn Spears is not taking her daughter Maddie’s high school graduation in her stride, and she is completely fine admitting it.

The Zoey 101 star, 35, shared an emotional post on Instagram on Friday, 24 April, as the reality of the milestone finally hit home. 

With the graduation invitations sent, the cap and gown arrived and the last regular day of school upon them, Spears said the state of denial she had been living in could no longer hold. 

“The reality of time is coming at me like a freight train,” she wrote, alongside photos of Maddie, 16, whom she shares with ex-fiancé Casey Aldridge, spanning from babyhood to her senior year.

She reflected on one of the most well-worn phrases in parenting, and found herself won over by it. 

“I know the saying ‘the days are long, but the years are short’ is one of the most cliche sayings, bc it’s said so much, but I now know that cliches are only said so much bc they continue to ring true in every lifetime throughout the test of time.” 

She described the feeling as bittersweet, pride in everything Maddie has achieved sitting alongside a longing to keep her as a baby forever.

She wrapped up with a gentle nudge to fellow parents to stay present and cherish the small things. 

“You will NEVER regret spending time with your kids,” she wrote, before adding a characteristically down-to-earth detail. 

“Also, it’s all about the little things, like today, I had a scoop of coffee ice cream for breakfast, I’ll probably have it for lunch too, bc tears & ice cream is an unbeatable duo.”

Maddie’s response in the comments was equally sweet. “I love you” and “stop making me cry,” she wrote, to which Spears replied: “You’re the one who just had to go and grow up.”

It has been a season of milestones for the pair. 

Last month Spears shared photos from Maddie’s senior prom, posting a meme of herself crying alongside the caption “SENIOR PROM, I am fine, totally not cryingggg.” 

Spears is also mum to eight-year-old daughter Ivey with husband Jamie Watson.