Pick Your Poison: Summer vs. School

I can’t decide if it was a million years ago or just a month ago that I was desperately calling for the start of summer. Overwhelmed with end-of-year assignments, finals, performances, and parties, I was ready to kick May to the curb. The idea of packing one more lunch made me apoplectic. Frantically loading up and shuttling my four sloths to school had me internally cursing a blue streak. Nothing inspires colorful language like a school drop-off line.

Bring on long, lazy summer days! Bring on swimming pools, water parks, rivers, and lakes! Bring on fire pits and s’mores and time outdoors! Bring on sleeping late and pool baths! I couldn’t stop caterwauling for school to end and for the good times to roll.

Fast forward to now: the middle of summer. HELP! S.O.S.! Send reinforcements!

Tick-tock, tick-tock. I’m counting down the minutes until school starts again. In case you were wondering, there are 43,200 minutes in a 30-day month. By my calculations, that’s at least 20,000 chances for someone to scream, “Mom!”

Lest you think I am a perpetual curmudgeon, I think the sweet spot of the year is early October when school is underway but holiday madness hasn’t hit yet.

I suppose comparing school to summer is a matter of picking your poison. Right now, I’m ready to trade:

Smearing children with sunscreen for chasing them down with their jackets.

Sleeping late for getting kids in bed before 11:00 P.M.

Washing 20 barely used cups a day for packing two lunches.

Moldy pool towels for sweaty P.E. clothes.

Lost flip flops for lost socks.

Lost goggles for lost glasses.

Bored children for being bored.

Sticky snow cones for soup dribbles.

Pool baths for middle school Axe body spray abuse.

Family vacations for Christmas staycations.

And mosquitoes for, well, just about any other insect.       

I’m ready for my kids to experience the joy of reading and writing and arithmetic again! I’m ready for school supplies, the constant social interaction, and variety of activities that burn me out every year.

So, bring on school shopping! Mega packs of pencils! New backpacks! Packing lunches! Even carpools and drop-off lines! I’m ready. Are you?

Lisa
Lisa is a mom and stepmom to Jonah, Jack, Sophia, Henry, Wyatt, and Quinn. Against Waylon’s and Willie’s advice, she’s OK with some of them growing up to be cowboys. A native Houstonian, she moved to San Antonio with her Detroit car guy husband four years ago. Lisa and Todd are raising their brood in the scenic town of Garden Ridge, where she serves on the city Parks and Recreation committee. She’s passionate about raising awareness of Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Lisa’s Rocket Scientist dad and King of Malaprops approves of her “blobbing” adventures but thinks she should stay off of MyFace.