First Day of School From A Parent Perspective

Tuesday, Aug. 23 was the first day of school for kids and parents, and two families made it through the day relatively unscathed.

“My kids are a little older, so it’s a little easier this year,” said Frances Vaught, who has two daughters – 15-year-old Kaitlyn, who attends , and Allison, 9, who goes to .

“I call this the honeymoon week,” she said. “They’re still excited. Once the fatigue sets in, then it’ll be ‘I don’t want to go.’ Then I have to get the cattle prod out.”

Vaught posted the following item on Facebook Tuesday:

“Well I hope the school district is happy. Now they have my kitchen help, bathroom cleaner and laundry folders back at school. Now I guess I have to do all this stuff around the house. Damn it.”

So far, she said, her only complaint is the fact that the school year gets earlier and earlier, “which is irritating.”

One thing she no longer does is pack lunches. That job is up to the kids themselves.

“I fired myself a couple of years ago,” Vaught said. “They complained about the ingredients in their lunches, so I fired myself and gave them the job.”

For Laurie Fahy, the end of summer means the end of road trips.

“It’s hard to say goodbye to the beach, Tahoe, all of that,” she said. “But the structure is good for the kids.”

Fahy also has two children – Theresa, who is a freshman at Alhambra this year, and Jake, who attends

Now that both kids are in different schools, Fahy’s morning is pretty much taken up with commuting.

“For the first year ever, I have to go to two schools at two different times,” she said. “Theresa starts at 7:30, and Jake starts at 8:30. I just pray my car doesn’t break down so I don’t have to get out in my slippers and pajamas.”

“It’s crazy,” she said. "I drove up and down my street 12 times today.”

But one tradition holds true, she noted.

“We always get a chuckle at the dinner table about how badly our name gets mangled.”

Fahy said that both kids have classes where they get to use iPads in the course of their work. The district is piloting the use of iPads and other technologies this year.

“They both love that,” she said.