Back to school blues

I've got a case of the blues today, but it's not the kind you might expect. I know so many kindergartners this year. It seems like half of the kids that we socialize with are starting kindergarten this year!

Today is the first official day of school and while their parents are posting cute photos of them getting on the bus or walking into school, my kids are home screaming their heads off. The first major tantrum was due to a fight over sharing their grandmother's iPad.

I got them to calm down from that tantrum by going outside for a while. Then we came back inside for lunch. While they were happily eating I thought to myself I will just sneak out quickly and put the trash into the bin.

I did, and all was well. 

Then I decided to take a second load of recycling out. But this time when I got back I heard lots of raucous noise and saw the kids flinging noodles and spitting their milk and water at each other.

I swooped in and grabbed their cups and ushered them to the sink, "No, you do not spit your drinks at each other." I declared trying to be calm but firm.

Lil Sis recovered quickly with a pout and an "I'm sorry" and then went to the playroom to play. Big Bro was a different story. He howled and cried and said "no I want my cuuuup!" A huge, lengthy tantrum ensued.

Last Wednesday when all the FB posts were about kindergarten orientation my kids also decided it was the perfect day to have lots of tantrums.

So as my friends lament about how their kindergarteners are reaching the beginning of independence, and wondering where did the time go? I look at those pictures with a sigh and wish that my kids were going to school too. 

The time with our children is short when you look back on it. When you are in the thick of the 0 to 5 years and marinating in tantrums, it can seem like the school years will never arrive. 

"It goes so fast!  Enjoy it while you can!" 

"Be careful what you wish for, your time will come soon!"

That's what some parents will think as they read this. Heck, it's what parents have told me and every other parent alive.

And I know....

Next year Big Bro will start kindergarten, and Lil Sis will start preschool. Part of me is hugely grateful for all these kindergartners going ahead of Big Bro. In the midst of my daily frustrations those families are reminding me to slow down and enjoy this last year when both my kids are home.

But come next year, I think you might see me looking a little bit like this:

Photo from Glennon Melton's blog Momastery http://momastery.com/blog/2014/09/02/it-gets-better-2/

10 hours to myself a week? I look forward to it. But who's counting? ;-)

School Struggles and Solutions

I missed my son's (preschool) parent-teacher conference. Really. It would have been last week but I just found out today.

How did this happen? "It was announced in an email, and there was a sign up sheet on the door," the teacher said. 

I didn't see that email or the sign up sheet.

I was pissed. Disappointed in myself for missing that email. Angry at the failure of the school to communicate better. I went home and searched my email. The only mention of parent-teacher conferences was one line in a list of things in an email sent at the end of October. Sign up sheets on "the door" are just white paper tacked with one thumbtack to a white door, they curl, they are indistinct. Drop off and pick up times are chaotic as the tiny and cluttered entryway fills up with kids, younger siblings and parents. We shuffle to get out of each others way while changing shoes, putting on winter gear, packing backpacks and admiring artwork.

I talk to the teacher almost every day. Didn't she notice I had not signed up and perhaps thought it was worth a check in?

Maybe I'm at fault here and being overbearing by expecting better communication from the school, except I know this stuff happens all the time. Just last month some parents showed up for pick up and were surprised that it was the Open House Luncheon.

But I'm a proactive person. Rather than stewing on the failure, I noticed that there is an underused bulletin board above the parent mailboxes already. I asked the teacher if she would post all the parent information there: announcements, sign up sheets, daily activities, and a list of upcoming important dates. This would just reinforce the emails and put all the info in one convenient spot.

She thought it was a good idea and said she would do it. Problem solved.