In my kids’ school, Friday and Monday are half days, which makes today the last full day. I’m not sure who is happier for the year to end, them or me.
The girls have their own list of things they’re excited about for summer. Most of them revolve around the three “P’s” – pool, play dates, and puppy (yes, we’re getting one in a few weeks). While those things are indeed awesome, here is my list of things I won’t miss after next Monday…
- Homework: let’s be honest, once the kids get into the fourth grade, parents are no longer able to assist with the math homework without the help of YouTube (unless they are an actuary, CPA or former math teacher…). Not only do they not teach the kids the same way we learned, but the whole vocabulary is different, and they crammed a lot more in a year than they used to. My ten year old was still doing math homework last night. Last. Night. Haven’t we had enough?
- Packing lunches: Yes, it sounds silly. I don’t know why this is such a relief for me, but it is. Some weeks I can get my groove on and pack wonderful healthy snacks in reusable containers the night before…. but then there are the weeks when I suddenly run out of everything, and I become the mom who is packing plastic baggies with Captain Crunch cereal and pop-tarts. Don’t judge. We’ve all been there.
- Waking my kids up: Oh, the irony. I spend an hour getting my kids to bed at night (too hot, too cold, not tired, lump in the bed, bug on the wall, hungry, underwear too tight….), and then I can’t get them out of bed in the morning. I spend most of the school year bargaining with my kids first thing in the morning: “get up now, and you’ll have time to play” or “get up now, and you can watch some tv” or my personal favorite, “get up now, or mommy’s head will explode…” And the real kicker is that starting next Tuesday, they will wake up on their own at 7:30.
- Drama: I know my kids enjoy school, but they would just rather stay home. By June, however, I’m soooo tired of the getting-out-the-door drama. It’s not like it’s all fun and good times – I tell them they’ll have to scrub toilets if they stay home. I’ve even resorted to the “mommy will have to go to jail if you don’t go to school” line, which doesn’t work as well as you might hope. God bless the staff at our school. There was enough days of the secretary/guidance counselor/teacher peeling my crying youngest child off of my leg this year, that I’m sure they won’t miss me much either…
- Remembering stuff: I consider myself more organized than the average bear. I carry a notebook. I keep a paper calendar. My desk at home is fairly clean. Yet, there are always those notices that slip by, well, unnoticed. Oh, today is the book fair? Huh. Class project was supposed to have been started when? The youngest is wearing a fancy dress and jewelry (and I’m just happy she’s dressed at all), and as she gets in the car, then I remember it’s gym day. Yes, it’s a lot of minutia, and frankly, my brain is just tired.
I realize full-time working moms have their own set of summer stress, and I’m fortunate that most days of the week I get to spend having fun with my kids. But at least we can all forget about multiplying fractions for a few weeks before we start getting ready for next year. I’m ready for a little change, how about you? Hooray for summer vacation!
Today was our first day of summer vacation. Both kids up before 6 a.m. Oof. Happy about the rest of it, tho. 🙂