Saturday, September 6, 2008

Back to School

I don't really know what I want to say in this post. I don't know where to begin, or even what to say, really, regarding a phenomenon that takes me by surprise every September. As a homeschooling family, we don't experience this regularly, but even the year I had some of my kids in public school, I didn't relate.

To what, you ask? To this nearly universal collective parental cry of, "Hooray - the kids are gone all day again!" It seems to me - given the many, many casual comments and Facebook posts and sermon jokes and the like - that most parents absolutely couldn't wait to see their kids back to spending the majority of their time elsewhere than in their presence. What's up with that?

I remember hearing a pastor giving a talk about "child training" once, and his challenge to us parents was, "Train them until you want to be with them." In other words, how kids turn out... and how much we (and other adults) enjoy being with them and spending time with them and having them with us as we socialize and do life... is dependent on our training them to be worth being around.

So, anyway, we are "back to school" now, too. And I, for one, am glad that this does NOT mean that my kids are now gone all day.

2 comments:

Kaa said...

Hi! I'm still "haunted" by a conversation I had several summers ago with a woman at a store, before K was even off to Kindergarten. He and I had gone shopping and were having a grand time, laughing and joking. A woman nearby was watching us for a bit, and then came to me and said, "I bet you can't wait for him to go back to school!" I shocked her when I replied, "Acutally, I can and would much prefer he stay at home with me!" Her reply was something like and "Oh!" "Wow!" I have many conversations like that with people and wonder, why they even have kids in the first place if the first thing they want to do is send them away?! But it's like that's how we're supposed to feel. It's like that Staples commercial at the beginning of the school year - the kids are staring very grumpy faces at their dad, who is dancing and singing up and down the isles, to "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," as he fills his cart with school supplies. I for one, am not one of those moms. I take my son to school every morning, with regret, and then wait for him in the afternoons at the bus stop WELL before the bus even arrives, with glee and excitement about his return. Children are a blessing. They already grow up too fast, and before you know it, they've moved out on their own. Why rush it now?

Gloria Wells said...

I share your sentiment. I couldn't stand it if I had to be away from my guys for most of their waking hours. I'm so thankful I don't have to! And I don't understand clamoring for so much "me time." My kids are much more fun than I am by myself!