What's Your Fall Schedule Like?
Plus: Talking to your kids about — and protecting your kids from — school shootings
My kids started school on Tuesday, and it’s been chaos. On the first day, the middle school bus was 15 minutes early, so nearly every kid on the route missed it (thankfully not mine — we decided in advance to drive him in). Yesterday, my daughter’s elementary bus was also early and we missed it, so I had to drop everything to drive her in my pajamas, 30 minutes round trip.
But that’s nothing compared to the after-school schedule. On Tuesday, for instance, I drove two kids from my house to the soccer field 9 miles away, turned around, drove the 9 miles home, immediately picked up two more kids, drove the 9 miles back to the same soccer field, and then drove home. (Then, thankfully, other wonderful people drove my kids home.) And that was just Tuesday! So far this month, parenting has been 92% chauffeuring, 6% making pasta, and 2% waking moaning kids up at the crack of dawn.
What does your fall schedule look like? Is it bonkers? Have you had any epic days so far? Share your stories — and strategies — in the comments.
On a much heavier note, I am devastated by the news of yesterday’s shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, which is about 50 miles from where I grew up. I wanted to re-share these past newsletters which might be helpful for some of you today and this weekend.
I mean. September is always insane for my budget and for my brain. Where we live (Dubai, UAE) you can get significant discounts for paying for a year of after school activities ahead of time but it’s a massive budget drain every September. Plus sometimes I have to guesstimate my kids’ interest. Cue the temper tantrum over school choir. Apparently not the “it” after school activity for 5th grade like it was in 4th grade…plus add in work trips for me and my husband three weeks back to back to back so each of us is solo parenting for long stretches, it’s nuts. At least our meal schedule (world’s most boring): pasta bar, leftovers, hot food of some type, taco night, pizza night, is set and still enjoyed by the children.
Oh, it's bad. My kids are 7th and 4th grade. Activities keep getting scheduled on different days than they were last year (or in one instance, a new activity emerged that my 4th grader REALLY wants to do and it's on the same day and time as an existing activity that he has committed to). Let's see. We've got climbing team 5:30-7:30, across town on Monday for kid 1. We've got robotics 4-5:30 (instead of existing swim team from 4:45-6) for kid 2 on Tuesday and horn lessons for kid 1 from 5:45-6:30, same day different locations that are almost exactly 15 minutes apart. Wednesday is the real kicker, as we have to pick kid 1 from climbing (starts at 6:30) at 6:50 to take her to scouts at 7, that goes until 8:30. Thursday is swim team for kid 2, from 4:45-6, same on Friday. Both kids also have competitions (kid 2 for both robotics and swim, kid 1 for climbing). We live in a big, low population state so competitions are several hours away and usually require overnight stays. Plus I'm a PhD student and teach a college level class, and I'm a part-time healthcare provider who cares for her mom with dementia. Anyway, obviously thriving over here.