Time to Send the Kids Back to School

The calendar indicates the third week in July, and it's almost Armageddon for moms with their kids.

Summer camp is out. The kids are bored to tears. How many cartoons can kids watch on TV? How many hours can they surf or play games on the Internet?

It seems like about the end of July, the entertainment string has run to the bitter end. The kids have been to the park what seems a thousand times. They've gone swimming, organized lemonade stands and played with their friends. The heat is so oppressive that events have all gone indoors for the most part. Mothers have broken up all too many fights and bickering among siblings.

There’s a real sense of uneasiness and urgency as the moms look at the schedule and see August staring them in the face. The school bell's ringing cannot come soon enough. Then, at last the distaff side of the family may earn a few moments of peace and solitude.

Moms have to be very creative and nimble at this point.

August calls for a lot of being in the car and on the go. The kids need to take their back-to-school physicals, purchase their school supplies and clothing and get their heads into the game of sitting long hours in the classroom once more.

As Ladue elementary principal Chris Schreiner said, “We don’t start all over with the learning. We just continue exactly where we left off.”

In the meantime, parents, often moms, are the math, science, physical education teacher at home. They have to make sure Johnny and Janie haven’t lost their math flip cards and are still working on their summer reading list.

On one hand, the kids say they don’t know what to do, and on the other, they love the lack of structure in their lives. Sleeping in until 10 a.m. is fun after one has been up past midnight watching TV or talking to their friends on the phone. Poor dad comes home and they are still in their pajamas.

By the third week of August, it might as well be the running of the bulls in Pamplona. The kids are back to the car pool schedule. Moms have to sign their little ones up for dance and piano lessons, rush them to soccer practice, make the PTO meetings, meet the new teachers and find time to fix a hot dinner for their brood.

I remember all too well when I was a school-aged kid. Growing up in a household of three brothers and a German shepard, we used to terrorize the neighborhood. I wonder how my mother survived it all.

On the calendar, Mother’s Day is on a Sunday in May. Mother’s Day ought to be every day of the year. The third week of August can’t come quickly enough.