Okay, so the title of my post is cheesy, but hear me out. Back to school isn’t just for kids anymore, and if any of you are moms out there, you’ll know what I mean. I have three kids: one in kindergarten, one in pre-K, and one about to start nursery school, and, man oh man, are the first few weeks back in boot camp/school hard for everybody involved. Here’s what back to school means to me now that I’m a mom:
Making the school run twice because one of my daughters forgot her (pick any of the following): book bag, library books, gym shoes, homework, lunch, field trip permission slip, pillowcase for naptime.
Having to write REALLY REALLY small on the calender again as the days fill up with sports practises, gym classes, back to school nights, volunteer hours, birthday parties, and playdates.
First hauling myself out of a lovely warm bed at too early an hour, and then trying to convince three, little people that getting up, getting dressed, and getting out the door is a great idea when they KNOW better.
Racing home at noon on the day online after-school registration starts to make sure I get a space in (fill in the blank): soccer, karate, choir, ballet, language class.
Trying to figure out when and why Daughter #1 has morphed from the arts diva, who loved singing and dancing, into Sporty Spice, who only wants to do athletics.
Staying up late to bake two dozen muffins for a class birthday celebration (we have a September birthday in the family).
Filling out all the medical forms, transportation forms, permission forms, and family history forms, and then accidentally mixing them up and mailing some of them to the wrong schools.
Trying to force my kids to wear real shoes again after three months of bare feet and flip flops. Ditto with combing hair, bathing on a regular basis with actual, real-live soap, and getting to bed at a reasonable hour.
Making a panicked, last minute appointment for haircuts because picture day is next week and, according to several reliable sources, my children look like yetis.
And, finally, trying not to cry and failing as I watch them sail off into another year of their lives with skinned knees, shoulders that seem too small for their bookbags, and, I hope, the wind perpetually at their backs. Hope you and yours are surviving re-entry! If you need a tissue, let me know. I’ve got a bunch stuffed up my sleeve.
Deb Tiffany
Childhood: the illusion that everything your parents do revolves around you, and they take it as a privilege!
Half right and half wrong, I think. I’m glad to be around you Debs. I really admire women who can portray motherhood honestly and still make it sound worthwhile! (…I’ll get there someday.)
Tiffany, right there with you. This is my first year with a kid in “real school” as my oldest just started kindergarten. I’ve already screwed up by not reading the whole newsletter and having him miss two days of alphabet-related show-and-tell. And he’s already forgotten his jacket at school, and fallen apart in hysterics that only a child can produce by forgetting something very crucial at school the very next day…so Nana saved the day by stopping by the school to get it for him. A thrill a minute!
Katie, I laughed out loud in recognition when you said “who can portray motherhood honestly and still make it sound worthwhile.”
Kris,
Hang in there! My daughter is still missing her “golden leaf” for her class wall (don’t ask), her change of clothes, and her water bottle. One day, I’ll wake up and do everything perfectly, but it probably won’t be today….
Although hardly amusing when actually dealing with this chaos, the telling of it is unbelievably amusing and you had me grinning throughout the post, Tiffany. And does anyone else wonder how we made it through school without own water bottle? Oh, right, there were these things called water fountains… 😉
Times like this make me realize how much easier it is having dogs.
One keeps me jumping–I can’t imagine three kids! I keep hoping there’s a magical moment when kids start remembering where they put all their stuff, but that’s probably after they’ve all left home.
nope, Meredith. Got the call my from middle daughter away at college asking me where her blue bra was and would I find it (right now) and send it to her with a list of about 10 other things she wanted me to find. Great post, Tiffany! Always great to know another mother of three…
It’s so true, all of the above. And gail, I love the blue bra request–our first request from our son at college was to pack up the Wii and the Game Cube AND the N64, asap. This of course leads me to wonder if there is any plan to study while at college. And then the other night while on the phone with him he was informed by a suitemate that his laundry was kidnapped and he discovered his boxers in the freezer. And now I do know that studying is not on the horizon. It’s a good thing I’m not there to oversee this or my obsessive compulsive momming would go into scary overdrive.
(and Larramie–I vividly remember the last time I used the water fountain at school, in 6th grade. One of those white porcelain types, and I leaned over to drink the water and saw this large band of orange scum rimming the base of the fountain part. I was so grossed out that was it for me!)
You paint a very vivid picture here, Tiffany! I’m just sending my 2.5-year-old off to daycare for the first time and the whole getting out the door thing is a major challenge already. And that’s just with one child–I cannot imagine how you do it with three!
The latest Nintendo video game system (3DS) won’t be on store shelves until March of 2011. It’ll cost about 25000 yen, which is about $290 USD. That price is fairly reasonable. I just wish it was being released sooner.