No matter how much we complain about not being able to get anything done when they’re home all summer, and no matter how good it feels to drop them off on that first day of school in the fall, we all miss our kids when they go back to school!
From the oddly quiet — and clean — house, to mornings to ourselves that don’t involve needing to remind anyone to flush the potty, we’re not the only moms who feel this way.
Oh, alone time, we’ve missed you
When we asked moms what they missed about their kids when they went back to school, many of them had something to say about all of the, um, quality time that they “miss” from summer vacation. (Are you reading between the lines here?)
“I really miss having my daughters wake me up at 5:30 a.m.,” mom to twins, Abby, shares. “They’re still waking me up early now, but at least I can put them on the bus for school in a couple of hours!”
A mom of teenagers, Michele comments that the moments of the camping trip they took as a family over the summer are keeping her going now that her kids are back in school: “It was so nice to spend all of that time (and money) setting up a camping trip where my daughter spent the entire three days pouting because she was missing her best friend’s birthday party and my son snored in our shared family tent.”
Robin, who is just getting started with this whole back-to-school routine, tells us that without her 5-year-old daughter, who just started kindergarten, yammering her ear off from sunrise to sunset, like she did all summer long, it’s hard to remember what she is supposed to think for herself anymore! “Let’s just say that this girl was ready to start kindergarten and make some friends!” Robin says.
Can you hear your house sigh?
No matter how old our kids are, when they’re home all day during summer vacation, our houses get trashed and these moms, while they’re missing their darling children now that they’re back at school, they are certainly not missing having to clean up after them for three long, messy months.
“I really miss washing dozens of swim suits every evening,” shares a mom of three. “My kids hated changing back into a wet suit after they’d gotten dressed (between activities), so I’d end up with a huge pile of soaking swim suits by the end of the day.”
Mom to a fifth grade son, Lanna tells it how it is: “Well, let’s see. I miss finding the lid off of the milk container in the fridge every time I open the fridge. I miss his grass-covered flip-flops inside the front door… in the middle of the entryway. I miss having to clean the toilet and bathroom floor twice as much. How many of these do you want?”
A few moms commented on their homes being taken over by gangs of children during the summer, but one mom nailed it: “I miss walking out of [my] bedroom in the morning to get my dress from the dryer and running into my son’s best friend in the hallway. I guess he had stayed the night. Oh, and did I mention that I was only in my underwear?”
Productivity is our fall super power
Wow! It’s amazing how much we can get done during the summer when our kids are home! Not. Having kids home during the summer can be less than productive, but look at the bright side… now that they’re back in school, you feel like Super Mom, running from errand to errand in record speed!
“I miss spending all morning at the grocery store,” confesses a mom of two who has both kids in school for the first time this year. “And, the huge grocery bill from all of the snacks that my kids discover when they shop with me!”
Mom and teacher, Riley, who is headed back to school with her kids this fall, tells us that she misses the simple things, like being able to get more than five minutes of anything done at one time before being interrupted. “I think that I can get more done with 20 kids in my classroom than I can with my kids at home during the summer!”
What are you “missing” now that your kids are back in school?
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