The May Mom
Well, parents (probably mostly Moms, let’s be real), we’ve made it. For us here in Texas, we are in the final week of school. I am both simultaneously relieved AND a bit anxious about the summer. We have made it through what social media icons, The Holderness Family, have dubbed “Maycember”. We have filled out all the forms, in triplicate for some of us. We have sent in all the Teacher Appreciation Day/Week/Month/Year gifts. We have filled up lunch accounts for the final time this year. We will be checking the lost and found AGAIN and for (temporarily) the last time. Let me tell you something. There is no tired like End of the School Year Tired. I was in Austin earlier this week for some work meetings and my husband texted me and informed me that our youngest had gotten home, had a meltdown about something or the other, and before he could even intervene, announced that she was putting herself down for a nap. SOLIDARITY, SIS. Solidarity. Also, can I please do that, just maybe minus the meltdown?
Listen. The Mom that I am in May is not the same Mom that I am in late August and I think I have finally made my peace with this. Let me paint this picture for you, if I might, by taking us all the way back to late August. That time of the year for working Moms is known as The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, or at least it is for me. We have survived the summer, which is almost always a mix of Ubering children to and from camps, friends’ houses for play times, and family trips that are full of fun but have their own level of stress. We have fed our children no less than (checks notes) 2,489 snacks after we gave up our neat and tidy “summer snack system” on Week 2 of Summer Break. We have also continued to show up and crush our jobs because that is just what we do - I see you, Super Mom! So yes, when that Back to School newsletter comes out from the campus principal, we do in fact have a “thrill of joy, the weary world rejoices” moment a la the Christmas Carol “Joy to the World”. Back to school has its own set of challenges, but to me it’s so much more manageable because I know that in a few weeks my kids are back in school, our routine will be back, and I can get almost 7 uninterrupted hours back in my life 5 days a week. Most wonderful time of the year, indeed!
End of May Mom
However, let’s talk about the End of May Mom. That Mom has survived walking with her kids through, just in the last 4 weeks of school, the following events:
Field trips…to which I need not say more about the absolute chaos that ensued for one of my children who is extremely routine oriented and NOT about that field trip life.
State Testing…even though this only applied to one of our kiddos, let’s just call a spade a spade. State testing throws the whole campus off as specials teachers are pulled to help test small groups of students, no recess until everyone is done testing in that grade level. It’s a whole dang thing to which I give the most aggressive eye roll.
End of Year Conferences and Projects. Call me old school, but I believe that students should be the ones to complete projects. I KNOW. Radical idea! Thankfully, this year anyway, all of the project-ing has taken place at school led by wonderful teachers (aka Not Parents). But talking through and helping our kids think through and practice talking about said projects has been a Thing the past few weeks. This is actually something that I enjoy as it’s public speaking and I think that’s a lifelong skill that all people need so let’s get those reps in, kiddos!
Packing lunches and snacks. Listen. I had some good systems in place for snacks and lunches in late August. Pack a fruit and pack a non-messy granola bar. Teachers, I had the utmost consideration for your classrooms. I really did! And those systems had been so wonderful up until about Spring Break. Basically, from mid-March until the end of the year, it’s grab and go, baby. Chips for snacks? Sure. Cheetos with that orange dust that infiltrates everything? Why not. Veggie Sticks? Redeemable quality is that they’re made of VEGGIES so bonus points! I think our daughter took an actual Costco sized croissant to school this week. Live and let live, love!
Surviving to Moderately Thriving
Are our children fed? Yes, they sure are. Are they mostly showered and dressed with clean clothes and still showing up for school every day? Yes, ma’am. Are they taking chips for snacks each day? Potentially. And I’ve made my peace with it. In my experience, I would rather loosen up on my systems a bit, breathe, and have more energy for my kids in May then buckle down and be snappy all the time. Moving from surviving to moderately thriving for me in May means being okay with emailing a Teacher Appreciation Day gift card when work went sideways and I couldn’t swing by on a lunch break to pick it up personally. Does it make that gift any less meaningful - not at all. This May I actually took a couple days off of work to help make things a little easier and give me some breathing room. Instead of rushing from work to school to work and back to school, I just took the dang day off of work. Because here’s what I’ve decided: the Mom I am in May gets to be just as present and joyful with her family as the excited for back to school Mom in August.
Let’s make the most of the summer time, friends. And give yourself a big pat on the back, Mommas, because that’s another year of school in the books! We did it. Now, about that nap…
