JFF - First Day of School...Happy or Sad??

Sad to me. It means I gave to go back to school too. I'm a teacher. I love the lazy summer days with my kids.

Ok, obviously I'm in the minority here, but I completely identify with that Staples commercial from a few years ago with the parents pushing shopping carts and gliding as "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is played in the background.

I teach, so I'm off during the summer. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and I LOVE the fact that I am off for the summer and get to spend that time with them. I know many parents who work summers and send their kids to camp all summer. Nothing wrong with that, but I am very grateful that my kids can go to some camps, can go to different camps, half day camps, no camp at all one week, that we can just stay in some days and go to the pool other days. I am very grateful for the time with them and for the freedom to pick and choose what we do.

But by the end of the summer, and am seriously ready to ship them back to school!!! I am ready for some adult time. I am ready for some quiet time! I am ready for school to begin. My boys are, too. They really are. They are ready for the routine, and they are ready to see their friends. So the feeling is mutual.

So I actually love the first day of school.

Can I say both? We are so incredibly proud of our son who was tested at the pre-k level when he entered 4th grade. He is worked tirelessly and without complaint and now started high school with a good chance of working at grade level. So, I was actually tearing up the first day...cause it has been such a long and frequently painful road for him. (I still tear up when I think about the time he came home from school crying and saying: Oh, M., my brain is broken.)

On the other hand I'm sad, cause once again the pressure is placed on him. We've been told home much homework to expect and between that, having dinner and taking a bath, he has about one hour of free time a night. I know that his weekends aren't going to be weekends, they are going to be the demands of school spilling over to Saturday and Sunday.

I'm not sorry to see the advance of time. One of the wisest people I know said: You raise them to leave you. It has made me adopt a personal motto from a song lyric: Wait right here, cause these are the good old days.

Hate it. I'm deep down lazy so love summer's slower schedule. I dread making snacks and lunches and the morning rush. And I don't like to see my kids get stressed or work hard. I know it's good for them and a life of leisure isn't good for anyone but it still pains me when they're tired or something.

Today was the first day of classes for my freshman at college. Just don't waste the time you have worrying over the future too much. Enjoy them now. And be proud of their accomplishments as they mature.

I'm sad that I have to get up at the crack of dawn. I'm a little disbelieving that my youngest will be in high school. I look forward to the return of organization and productivity.

I'm not bothered by the numbers of getting older. Every life stage has the potential to be a new adventure. Raising kids into adulthood so they successfully become independent is the main point of being a parent in the first place, so that should be considered a win. I am not in any hurry for my kids to grow up and leave, but I do have some ideas about how I'm going to enjoy that time when it comes.

I usually want summer to last forever, but this year, I have a very outgoing, popular 15yr old who wants to hang out with her friends constantly and is pushing the limits with curfew and other things. She was busy the first half of summer and this wasn't as much of an issue. I usually let the kids veg for the last couple of weeks before school starts. And that's where we are right now. Teenager with way too many friends (some older friends who have later curfews), who wants to stay out late, and has too much time on her hands. I CANNOT WAIT for this child to get back to a school schedule! We start the day after Labor Day and it can't come soon enough!

She reminds me too much of when I was 15...I should go apologize to my mother right now.

I love the summer!
It's relaxing and not so hectic.
I'm sad when school starts up again.

I usually love it. My kids....not so much. I do, not because it gets them out of my hair, but because they are good students, they have friends, and they are being challenged.
THIS YEAR...I am sad. My youngest is heading off to kindergarten. For my first two boys, when they went off to kindergarten I still had a little one at home to love on, cuddle with, and "mom." Now all of my chick-a-dees will be at school and I will be at home. Alone. WHICH....would normally be great. Except I am suffering from some major mom guilt. I work a swing shift, so on 3 of the days that they are at school I will ONLY see them in the morning as they head off to class. It doesn't feel like 1/2 an hour is enough.
So this year it is sad.

LOVE! I have never been mopey about the start of school, but I also work, so summer always proves challenging. This year, we made the mistake of having the kids home much of the time while I worked from home (some camps and trips thrown in in between), to save money. On day one, I remembered quickly why we spent the money on camps all summer long. They're older now at 13 and 10, but don't get along. So, a lot of fighting going on and "I'm bored" comments while I'm trying to meet deadlines. Our kids just do a whole lot better with the routine of school and so do I (as much as I hate homework and other demands).

I find it to be bittersweet.
I love that they are excited to see their friends and that they like school. The first day was good and both like their teachers. Neither was put into a class with established friends, but they both see this as a chance to make new friends and aren't bothered by it. That makes me happy.

I'm also continually shocked at how fast time flies. I can't believe how big my kids are already, and I'll miss the lazy summer days when I didn't have a time schedule to get my kids out the door. That marking of the passing of time makes me want to grab each day and hold onto it.

its a love hate thing. i love that hes moving up in grades, that he gets to see friends, that he gets to learn new things. but i hate that hes away from me. if something happens it will take me about 20 minutes to get to him and i hate that.

I hate it. I take the summers off to spend with my kids and we have lots of fun. The older they get the harder it gets.

I've enjoyed our summer - probably one of the best yet. This year, I spaced out my husband's 3 weeks of vacation with camps and friend trips - so it was a good pace. I took the advice of moms off here that said just let the kids veg and let them be on our slow weeks. That worked out really well.

I realized too that my older kids will have jobs in a year or two and really this is just time for them to be kids.

My kids like school so they do miss aspects of it - routine and seeing their friends works well for them as does hockey, etc. that all starts up. Summer's just long enough for them to have had a real break and quality time with us - so I don't hate it nor have I counted down the days.

I will miss them - but I'm looking at taking some courses and tackling some more house renovations.