Let's Talk About...The First Week of School

Ok. Can we all take a deep breath after the first week of school? That first week is a little rough, don’t you think? All the fuss, anxiety, and logistical planning comes to head with the start of school. Whether you are a parent of a student or the student, it’s a tumultuous time. In the blink of an eye, the lazy days of summer end and the regimen of school begins.

I am also sure you are familiar with the sleepy, whiny, anxiety that permeates the house around the start of school. Yes, it comes from the kids, but I am mostly talking about the parent who is saddled with the brunt of errands, logistics and tear-wiping.

No matter what grade, it starts with looking up when the first day of school is, who will be your child’s teacher, where is their homeroom, and what is the schedule. I recall my daughter’s face falling in disappointment one year when learning who her teacher will be while my son’s lit up with elation at his news.

Then there are school supplies, clothes, backpacks, and all the paraphernalia needed for school success. That big trip to Target is one fraught with landmines.

You then gather the bus schedules, carpool schedules, drop off and pick up times and you perform a logistics run through. You pile into the minivan and together coordinate the timing with military precision.

I rode the bus to school as a child. My kids had me.

But for those who ride the bus, it takes at least a week to figure out exactly what minute in the morning you must leave the house to get to the bus stop just moments before it pulls up. Finding that same bus to get back home at the end of the day is always a nightmare.

Similarly, as a parent, you strap on that driver’s harness and start that 9-month chauffeuring slog. Count it - two trips to and from school (if no bus) twice a day and possibly more if you have multiple children. Add in the after-school activities and sports. That’s at least two more trips per day. Per child. Once the sports game schedules come out you begin to realize you may as well live in a motorhome.

It is hard to keep track of all of that. NASA has a tough time with logistics sometimes, so it is ok if you do now and then too.

When my youngest son was a high school freshman, I drove him to Niwot High School and back home and everywhere else every day until he got his driver’s license. And a car.

He was my youngest, so I had been driving children daily for about 18 years straight. The school year began, and I was alone in the house dancing to Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” when the phone rang. My son said, “Mom, where are you?” There was a long pause. I looked at the clock. My response was, “Oops.”

It happens.

Every new school year takes a while to get into the swing of things.

There is a new bath schedule, bedtime schedule, and dinner schedule to contend with while trying to ignore that it is still light outside.

My mother-in-law thought that I would have a lot of free time on my hands when the kids went back to school. She would ask, “What are you going to do with all that time, Elise?” Seriously?

There were years I fell for that and thought about all that “alone time” I was going to enjoy. I might have time to play tennis, meet with friends, read a book, and maybe get a(nother) job.

Looking back, I realize I was delusional.

What I was really doing during those 3-6 hours was grocery shopping, cleaning the house, planning and cooking meals, baking something for some school related event, planning children’s parties or buying gifts for other kids, volunteering endlessly, and calling my mom.

On the other hand, a little order and routine can be a blessing. No more constant mess, no more getting up late and going to bed late, no more chaos. During the school year it is all schedules and homework. Things “get done.”

Admittedly, there is some satisfaction in that. But whatever appeal that has wears off pretty quickly and those freewheeling summer days start to look pretty nice.