It’s back to school time again and for this mum, it’s a lament. The kids are going back to school, which means she has less free time on her hands. She also worries that the kids will get sucked into social media and video games when they should be doing homework or other work. It is tough being a mom of elementary school-aged children!
Handing our children back to their capable educators after almost four months in lockdown seems, on the surface, to be straightforward. Let’s face it, we all need the break. Who among us wants to keep doing Year Six science anyway?
But, as Shevonne Hunt, our Feed Play Love podcast presenter, wrote on her Facebook page, it’s not that simple. And like so much of parenting, the feelings accompanying the end of one stage and the beginning of another are soaked in ambivalence.
Below, Shevonne expresses all the feelings she has about her two kids returning to the classroom.
The end of home school
“Today is the second-last day I will be home-schooling my son. I’m working next week, so I’ve only got two more days homeschooling my daughter, and I find myself in a very strange place.
“I am SO READY for them to be back at school. I have found supporting my kids at home mostly painful, with small bursts of delight. Painful because I’m not a trained teacher – it felt like a constant lesson for me; in humility. Not understanding Year 4 maths, or how to motivate children who complain before every school exercise. Worrying that they would fall behind their peers.
“And then there has been the sweet sweet release of not giving a fart and letting go of it all. Of going on cheeky McDonalds runs or when the pools opened – for a swim. There have been moments of pride when they accomplish something, and laughter when we all realize how ridiculous this situation has been.
It felt like they were toddlers again
“There has been frustration, temper tantrums, tears.
“It’s felt like I’m back when they were toddlers – when I rarely completed any task (or thought) without interruption, without being needed.
“And this is where I find myself in a strange place.
And yet …
“In spite of it all, I appreciate the amount of time we have been able to share. I like being so much a part of their lives. The luxuriousness of not having to rush off to school and work. Of being able to address their tantrums with a cuddle and a chat on the bed. Being able to be in their presence and to learn more about them as the small humans they are.
“It’s strange because I will miss it, even as I feel myself in these last days fraying at the edges.
“I will miss their noise even as I wallow in the silence.
“Strange days indeed.”
How about you, parents of school kids? How are you feeling about sending those little humans back?
Conclusion:
It’s back to school time again and for this mum, it’s a lament. The kids are going back to school, which means she has less free time on her hands. She also worries that the kids will get sucked into social media and video games when they should be doing homework or other work. It is tough being a mom of elementary school-aged children!
