It’s supposed to get easier right? Life with little ones is challenging, time-consuming, and exhausting. Surely life with a kid, a preteen, and a teen would be easier? No such luck.
I thought my life would get easier once I left the troubledsome toddler and precarious preschool years behind. As my youngest entered kindergarten two years ago, I said goodbye to naps, only having one child home during the school day, library storytimes, and preschool tuition.
I had over six hours to myself each day. I reveled in the freedom. After years of always having a little one at home, I was a free agent during the school day. I could sleep all day if I wanted to or I could work like mad until the second I heard the kids’ feet stepping over the threshold to my house.
But the evenings and weekends are anything but idyllic. From the moment the kids come home from school I become a mom with a mission. My mission — and some days I would rather not accept it thank.you.very.much — is to get Kid A, Kid B, and Kid C to afterschool activities, sports practices, and music lessons. And then there is homework.
I wasn’t a fan of homework at any stage of my educational career. I balked at assignments. I put off projects. I finished papers at the last possible second. As a parent, I try to be organized. I keep the wall calendar updated with assignments and due dates. I check agenda books for all three kids. I work hard to not pass on my procrastinating tendencies to my children. It’s hard…very hard, but I have to give them a good grounding.
Ultimately, it is up to each child to hand in the assignments on time. In order to hand in the assignment on time, each child has to do the assignment. With my preteen and teen, I prod, cajole, and pester them to keep track of homework assignments, but it is up to both kids to do the homework. I can’t do it for them.
As I contemplate the summer break we are in the waning weeks of, I know that it was a good break for all of us. The preteen is excited to go back to middle school to see her friends again. The teen is looking forward to high school. The kid wants to know who he will have for second grade.
And me? I am looking forward to having my 6 plus hours back each day.
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musingsfromme
Jill is a writer who stays at home or a SAHM who writes...it depends on her mood. She blogs about seizing family time one dinner - movie - game night at a time at http://www.musingsfromme.com. When not blogging, she writes about preteens on TypeAParent, and for several other websites. She is the community manager for two local mommy sites and one national site for moms.
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