The kids are going back to school and parents around the northern hemisphere are sharing a collective moment of celebration! Hooray! We’ve spent the summer grappling with the option to either find a creative activity for your kids that keeps them off the electronics vs just giving up and allowing them to play on their tablet so you can get a dang moment of peace. While I’m ecstatic to sleep an extra hour each morning and love the break from homework, I need these guys out of my hair for longer periods daily. My schedule is completely out of whack, and I need some normalcy.
So here we are, school starts in just a few days and yet, I’m not any less stressed than I was last week. Could it be that this promise to occupy our children’s time comes with a double serving of homework and stress? Are there others out there also longing for simpler times when we didn’t have to get into classroom chats and haggle over who’ll be the next Room Parent? What about all those darn new uniform guidelines and that super chipper PTA Board clogging up your inbox? I love my children, but the pressure put on us as parents to prepare for the school year is soul-sucking to say the least!
I’ve put some thought into this and have divided my sentiments into two columns: Joys and Woes. Let’s go on a journey of summertime and back to school pros and cons that shed a little light on my existential crisis.
Joys:
Getting back to regular routine. The kids may have been in camp all summer, but it’s not been their regular routine, and it especially hasn’t been yours. Camp typically starts and ends later than school which leaves us parents with less time than ever to sneak off to the gym or those important little errands we’d accomplish right after early drop off. While the kids thrive on a regular school routine, let’s not forget that we’re people as well and need that routine just a much!
Watching our kids learn and grow. New school years are a time for new friendships, new school subjects, and opportunities to mature. We’d love for them to stay babies forever but it’s amazing to see how much they grow from peer interactions and friendships each year. As we all know from our own experiences, some of these kiddos will be friends for life so we better get to know them early on!
Excitement over new beginnings. Each grade presents new challenges and fresh opportunities to develop friendships and stand apart in your academics. Every year, my kids present me with new activities they’d love to conquer, and I relish the challenge of accommodating these new activities into their schedules.
Watching my kids take on and achieving goals all on their own. In those rare moments when our children actually pursue their academic challenges all on their own, it’s so rewarding to stand back and watch them taste the glory of their struggles.
The joy of hunting down those school supplies necessary to start your year off right. As a kid, I loved the hunt we completed in Office Depot to purchase the necessary school supplies for each year. This may have been a mundane task for our parents, but it was so rewarding for us to tick those items off on the list our mothers held with clenched fists, and I know my children feel exactly the same.
Woes:
Those ridiculous school supply lists! My daughter’s school has recently created a program where you can pay a ridiculous amount of money to purchase all necessary school supplies for one flat rate and I couldn’t possibly hand my money over faster. There is nothing worse than standing in that back corner of school supply hell at Target wondering whether you’re purchasing the correct composition book based on the spacing of the lines. I can’t deal!
Getting back into an unachievable routine. After a summer of partying harder than a gang of frat boys, these kids are going to need all the help they can get to adjust. In my opinion, a little melatonin never hurt anyone, and honestly, I’d be lying to myself if I thought we could get back to “normal” without it!
These kids aren’t achieving any goals without their MVP of a mother getting them there. Let’s be real, our kids are lazy and whiny and the only reason they’re getting semi-decent grades is because we got them there! I love my summertime breaks with later mornings and zero homework but I’m currently stocking up my whiskey stash for the upcoming homework insanity. I truly believe teachers should award parents points for the obvious effort we put in on all assignments and feel I could be top of the damn class!
New teachers, new insanity. Let’s face it, we spent all last year getting used to one educational regime and by the time we got the hang of it, we’re on to someone else. It takes months for me to explain my kids to their new teachers, let alone myself, and them bam! The school year is over! I wish we could spend two to three years with our favorite pairings so our kids could have a little consistency in their lives…and me, too!
At the end of the day, it’s been a long summer of nonstop family travel (not a single vacation and if you don’t know the difference you either don’t have kids or have a nanny that travels with you), way too much iPad time and not enough structure. Like anything else, our time and energy belong to the kids so it’s only fair that we get to send them back to a place that does the same for them. My husband and I have already scheduled a handful of fall travel so we can get back to what really matters: ditching these kids back onto their teachers and all the people we pay to watch them so we can enjoy the small bit of adult energy we have left. Lastly, get ready for all those back-to-school social media posts and the uptick in morning traffic. Yay for fall!
Riveting Rosy
@rivetingrosy305
