My kids started school today. We all had to get up almost 2 hours earlier than we wanted to. Thats a big biorythmic shift to swallow all at once. Add to that the imposition of Schedule and today was rough. It is now 8 pm. I only have half of my kids in bed and none of them are asleep yet even though theoretically the younger two should be in order to get enough sleep. Homework time was exhausting for me. All of it was exhausting for me. The schedule seems overwhelming to manage. I know that I’ll adapt and in a couple of weeks it’ll be easy, but right now the thought that I have to get up tomorrow and do it all over again makes me want to cry. They kids each had a great day, so that’s good at least. How is it that I can simultaneously feel like the schedule is a workable one and also feel like it is insane and no one could manage it?
The best part of today featured an unexpected package in the mail. It was a gift box full of small toys for my kids. Thank You SomebodyStrange and Davesanngel, that was incredibly thoughtful of you. It was a much needed morale boost in the middle of a very rough day. Rather than “sensibly” saving up the toys for a birthday or christmas, I’m going to hand them over to the kids right away because sometimes the unexpectedness of a gift is half the value. You picked well, the kids will have a blast.
And now back to parenting with me.
Since we are in the same school district, this was our first day back to school as well, and there was much rejoicing. We only had to get up a half an hour earlier than our summer schedule (2 of my 4 don’t believe in sleeping in yet). The earlier start was wonderful for me since it got me into my morning work over a half an hour earlier than I’ve been doing. The kids did pretty good too, except Peter seemed to think that since school was starting he was no longer obliged to participate in his morning chores.
They are still having a hard time getting to sleep with their earlier bedtime and we are thinking of relaxing it a bit, but after the summer experiment with significantly later bedtime, I’m not sure it will work.
Hang in there and enjoy the additional time with your two little ones. I know Luke, our nearly three-year-old, will be loving all of the extra one on one time with Mom.
=)
Glad we could provide a little boost for you!
We had so much fun choosing the goodies for the kids – I’m glad that you think we picked well.
Enjoy!
Yay!
Because our school is year round we only got June and July as our summer break. School started on Aug. 1st for us. I kept bedtime pretty strictly during our “summer” and since LightningBoy is a “Gasp!” morning person we haven’t had any trouble. However SoccerGirl is a serious NightOwl, and doesn’t like getting up in the morning. But we can feed her later and just stick her in a stroller and get LightningBoy to school.
Sandra, I know how you feel. The Sunday night before the first day of school felt like being at the bottom of a mountain knowing that day after day of trudging up hill was ahead of me. I believe I actually did cry at the thought of school schedule every day.
The best thing has been that his teachers moved up to 2nd grade with the class (full of his friends)… so, no having to get to know new teachers (and no new friends and their parents to figure out).
Have a Happy School Year!