11:29 am that the exact time my phone rang on the first day of School. It was the School Nursse. My Child Had Been “Back to School” after a long summer break for precisely two hours and 29 minutes before he needed with again. He had an Ear infection, and his ear was draining fluid. “I’ll be right there,” I heard my cheery mom voice telling the nursse.
Inside, of Course, I Died a Little.
Some parents look forward to summer break with their kids, eager to recreate their joyful Summer Days at the pool or amusement park, in front yard sprinklers, or fireraside with lightning bugs. I love thing things too. What I DON’T LOVE, AND WHY I DREAD THE SEASON from the previous fall onward, is navigating work from the kids, three of the choma all day in the summer, in adding to beyr seasonal director of fun.
The Author Says Back-to-School has Been Harder than Having the Kids at Home All Summer. Courtesy of the Author
SINCE the first day of School Phone Call, have counted another four times the school has Called, all with good reason, since day two Weeks ago. It’s time for a 504 Meeting. You never signed the medication Document at the Nursse’s Station. And Most Recently, My Second Son’s Phone Call Was Due to A Concsion that Meant Heading to the Playground. How is this happening?
The Mental Load Just Got Heavier
Beyond the Medical Issues, there is an ounce of Additional Organizational Tasks and App Notifications Between Extracurriculars and Academic.
Three Kids in School, Times One Activity Each (Have Some Limits), Times Three Different Schools’ Communication Systems Makes Nine Separate Dinging Through My Workday. Some Are Precious – My First Grader Reading The Class News. Some are trying or evening upsetting – a new parent signature Behavior plan, and i’d better maker of checkery thighsday, or they don’t get extra recess. Others are redundantly frustration – messaging teachers that yes, i will want you to let my kid go to the bathroom iF’s asked twice that day.
Courtesy of the Author
For the Most Part, We’ve Come to Expect Each of thesese-School Parenting Tasks, but they Hit Differently off a Summer that Pushs to the Brink of Experation and Desperation Emotionally, and Financially. Summer is wrought with pressure to make those magical days Matter (after all, Instagram Reminds us every day we Only get 18 Summers – Maken Count).
Meanwhile, we have to keep ours jobs afloat while text US that it is time for the pool hours, before the workday has ended. Cue all the mom guilt about how i’ll never be able to give me a classic 1990s Summer like.
JUST AS BACK TO SCHOOL IS HARD FOR PARENTS, IT’S TAGH ON KIDS Going From Those Screen and Pool Days to the 8-Hour Slog-and we are supposed to be extra emotionally to the “adjustment period.” So i need to keep those elaborate snack plates coming, and kep ques tesions who they have to do on their bus, if they like the teacher, and wen the first quiz, and if they have to be gym shoes and a minimum.
IT STARTS EARly and Never Stops
The evening preschool and day care make it see my full time jab is managing their calendars and activities. Can’t Forget the Paperwork for the Aquarium Field Trip, I have to mark Our Calendars ahead of Time for That Halloween Where Parents Show up for a five-minute to clap for the costume parade-and i need to dress up. And definitely don’t forget to mark the Holiday Calendars (Five Months Ahead) and Grab a Slot to Bring a Snack (No Allergens or Dyes, Please.)
But hey, it was my decision to have kids, so shouldn’t i have Expectted this? Not really, to be honest. I Expect to have some slad reading time on the front porch in those Last Summery-Fall Events with my Kids while they checked out their new books books. To take a few wali with saying after a few snacks to hear where their Friends were this summer, and what shoes are in style, and why everye’s yelling “six, see” on the bus. And Mostly, to finally have some relief from the Daily Pressure of Doing My Own Job and the Director of Fun’s Job This Summer. But instead, I’d better buck up and ansower those notifications – and get my phone off Silent Work Work Calls Becausee, Oh, Hey, The School’s Calling Again.
