Here We Go…
As the first day of school arrives so does the litany of forms, pledges, extra supplies and general “stuff” that you need to provide so that you can safely leave your child for six hours and regain your school year freedom. And, no matter how many years I do this exact same drill, I always find myself mentally and physically drained by the end of week one—like moved all day tired, like maybe I had a baby yesterday tired—why is this so exhausting?
Mind The Time
I suppose depending on how your summer operates, there is some challenge to getting back to the school year “hours.” You may have been enjoying sleeping until the magical hour of 8:00 a.m. or even later, or maybe your child has–hooray for you! No matter what your start time, you’ve certainly been relieved of some of your time monitor duties—you know the drill: “10 more minutes until bed, 5 more minutes until bed, 12 seconds before bed,” (insert exasperated raised voice). Because, honestly, in the summer, who cares? Who cares if your kid is tired when they go to art camp, a little sleepy when they arise for their Fortnite tournament, maybe a little groggy when they head off to soccer camp–the answer: NO ONE!
The expectation of the summer child is so low; it’s delightful. Did this child get enough sleep? Probably not. Were they up too late last night? Most definitely. Have they hit all of the 5 food groups today? Not a chance. Are they clean? This depends on your definition of “clean.” I believe that every mother on the planet has a different definition of the word “clean” for the months of June through August. Summer clean is a loose guideline, left up to interpretation; it’s flexible.
The Warden Is In
This is all a vast departure of what takes place once that school bell rings on day one. School child has got a whole new set of rules and expectations. School child has to be on time. For this to happen, school mom has to operate with military precision. Take five extra minutes to eat your breakfast because you’re staring into space and you’re looking a tardy right in the face. And, let’s face it, unless your child drives themselves to school, no matter how much you were trying, how early you woke them—that tardy is on you—you’re the time failure.
It’s a lot of pressure. And, it’s not only the morning routine. If you happen to have an early riser that’s a dream to get out of the house, I say God Bless, and don’t tell any of your friends that, because they will not find it charming. Even, if you do have a morning angel, there is still the after school and evening routine.
If your child does any after school activities this requires additional time management, transportation and most likely another food source of some kind. You’ve got to pack these kids up at 6:45 a.m. and make sure they’ve got what they need to survive all of the things until their later return—and some of them are REALLY later—like 10 hours later! You miss a cleat, a jersey or a snack in this operation and you’re DONE! Now, you’re the after school activities failure.
Then we get to the dinner/homework/bedtime hours. Depending on the ages of your children, the degree of difficulty here varies. It’s sort of a sliding scale. Admittedly, it’s not easy to coax a 6 year-old into bed, but, I would submit, that it’s a far cry better than having to do algebra homework at 9:00 p.m. (unless math problems are your secret hobby, but again, I’d keep that one to myself, if I were you). No matter what the age, you’ve got to get the timing just right here as well. If you don’t start thinking about whatever you’re feeding people for dinner by at least 3:00 p.m., then nothing is getting ordered/cooked/delivered in time. This sets off a chain reaction of lateness and BOOM! It’s 8:00 p.m. and your 30 minutes past your 5 year-old’s bedtime and they still haven’t bathed.
It’s like beat the clock all day long. Or like every action movie you’ve ever seen when they’re diffusing a bomb. It seems like it’s going ok, until it’s not, people start yelling and sweating and then, somehow, you narrowly avoid disaster. Hmm…I wonder why getting back to this is so exhausting?
It’s tough out there, my friends. I’m not sure there is any way to ease back into the school routine. But, have faith that thousands before us have done this and we surely will be able to succeed somehow. We all need to give ourselves some grace and realize that a well-loved kid is the true end goal. As we dive back in, I wish for you stress free mornings, relaxed evenings that roll right in to peaceful rest, and children that can find both of their shoes at least 78 percent of the time. Welcome Back!