Welcome to the Jungle
Aug. 10th, 2018 12:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
messygorgeousThe kids started school Tuesday. My Michigan relatives always freak when they see my kids going back in early August. It is hot as hell down here and still daylight until 9:00 at night so it feels weird. When I was growing up in this same town we didn't start back until the Friday before Labor Day. We had one intro day of class, got a nice three day weekend, and then it was down to business until Thanksgiving break.
I personally hate it, every damn year I hate it. I think I get a little back to school depression going on that I have to power through the week before.
There you have it. This year was a little different because my daughter started high school too. She is prone to anxiety and kept herself up four nights in a row worrying about it which culminated in big gulping tears Monday night when I went to tuck her in. Would her teachers be scary? Would her friends abandon her? Would older kids be assholes? Would she fail all her classes? Would her boyfriend dump her because they didn't have class a class together? And myriad other faceless, nameless fears that took over her imagination.
She is awesome. And that's not just me looking at her through mom goggles. She is smart and funny and strong and gorgeous and talented. If anyone is mean to her it's because she intimidates the hell out of a lot of kids her age. I told her high school can be scary at first - it's full of unknowns and kids much taller than she is. I let her know there will be changes with her friends, that always happens, but that she will make new friends - and probably better ones - in high school. I told her she is prepared for this - that it isn't like she is going from fifth grade to 9th grade, she is moving up one grade as usual, it's just in a different building. I let her know the upper class girls would ignore her unless they thought she was a threat and then hey, screw them, haters gonna hate. The upper class boys will just think she's cute. And I reminded her how scared I was my first day of high school - how I walked in there a terrified 8th grader and walked out running the school as a Senior. (I really did, I was very involved in high school and it was pretty great. If that's the path she wants, she can do that too.)
My son, usually super cool as a cucumber, was having a brief existential crisis that night as well, as he started 7th grade, talking about how he wants to do well but does all this really means nothing in the end because one day the sun will burn out and all life as we know it will cease to exist? Gracious. I definitely wasn't given the kids who are just worried their math teacher is going to suck. I mean, the kid is right, which I acknowledged, but we then had a talk about choices. You can choose to live your life like nothing matters because the world could end tomorrow or you can recognize the importance of thinking about your future while remembering to live in the moment. Whether your life - or life on this planet - lasts for eight more hours or eight more years or 8 billion years, it only makes sense to live your best life now, be the best version of yourself today so that whenever you go you can be proud of who you were and happy with where you've been.
Phew! I was seriously ready for bed.
Tuesday morning dawned sunny and humid. The kids did not want to get up but they got moving pretty fast. I got them outside for our annual first day of school pics, this time in front of our new front door! The bus did NOT pick them up...apparently the stop we had been told to wait at was no longer in use so I had to fly them to their schools. Luckily they are just four minutes away so they weren't late.
The bus kerfuffle was probably for the best though. In the stress of it all, my daughter forgot to be worried about her first day. I was in fixer mode which meant I wasn't having to keep myself from a tearful goodbye when my baby went off to high school. Instead it was me yelling "Go! Go! Go! Before they lock the door!" and breathing a sigh of relief when she slid in with the last bus kids. I zipped to the middle school and left my son there, who was laughing with a classmate before he got inside the door.
It wasn't until I drove away that I got that lump in my throat, but I didn't actually cry. These kids can handle this.
Cell phones are a wonderful thing. I texted them a couple times throughout the day, just doing a temperature check, and my daughter's texts were full of exclamation points and happy emojis. I knew she was doing just fine.
That night, when I got home, I got to have my first big yell at the kids in our new house (now is it home?) They had neglected to walk the dogs when they got off the bus and one of them peed on the new carpet - the dogs, not the kids. Afterward, when I asked my daughter how her first day of high school went she rolled her eyes and said "It was boooring."
Such a change from the night before. Kids.
Three days in and my son seems to have fallen back in the routine quite nicely. His band instructor is letting him use the brand new tenor sax in class because he is "the only kid he trusts with it." And my daughter has made a new friend - told you so! - answered a tough math question correctly in front of the class - told you so! - and has annoyed some of the upper class girls in her health care class because she actually knows the answers and isn't afraid to show the teacher she enjoys learning - told you so there too! I'm trying not to "I told you so" on her too hard though.
Last night at 10:30, as I was turning off the lights in the kitchen to go to bed, BOTH the kids remembered they had papers I needed to fill out by today, so I spent another 30 minutes signing my name to permission slips and social media release forms.
Yep. School is definitely back in session.
I personally hate it, every damn year I hate it. I think I get a little back to school depression going on that I have to power through the week before.
Why I Love Summer
by Ms. Messygorgeous
There you have it. This year was a little different because my daughter started high school too. She is prone to anxiety and kept herself up four nights in a row worrying about it which culminated in big gulping tears Monday night when I went to tuck her in. Would her teachers be scary? Would her friends abandon her? Would older kids be assholes? Would she fail all her classes? Would her boyfriend dump her because they didn't have class a class together? And myriad other faceless, nameless fears that took over her imagination.
She is awesome. And that's not just me looking at her through mom goggles. She is smart and funny and strong and gorgeous and talented. If anyone is mean to her it's because she intimidates the hell out of a lot of kids her age. I told her high school can be scary at first - it's full of unknowns and kids much taller than she is. I let her know there will be changes with her friends, that always happens, but that she will make new friends - and probably better ones - in high school. I told her she is prepared for this - that it isn't like she is going from fifth grade to 9th grade, she is moving up one grade as usual, it's just in a different building. I let her know the upper class girls would ignore her unless they thought she was a threat and then hey, screw them, haters gonna hate. The upper class boys will just think she's cute. And I reminded her how scared I was my first day of high school - how I walked in there a terrified 8th grader and walked out running the school as a Senior. (I really did, I was very involved in high school and it was pretty great. If that's the path she wants, she can do that too.)
My son, usually super cool as a cucumber, was having a brief existential crisis that night as well, as he started 7th grade, talking about how he wants to do well but does all this really means nothing in the end because one day the sun will burn out and all life as we know it will cease to exist? Gracious. I definitely wasn't given the kids who are just worried their math teacher is going to suck. I mean, the kid is right, which I acknowledged, but we then had a talk about choices. You can choose to live your life like nothing matters because the world could end tomorrow or you can recognize the importance of thinking about your future while remembering to live in the moment. Whether your life - or life on this planet - lasts for eight more hours or eight more years or 8 billion years, it only makes sense to live your best life now, be the best version of yourself today so that whenever you go you can be proud of who you were and happy with where you've been.
Phew! I was seriously ready for bed.
Tuesday morning dawned sunny and humid. The kids did not want to get up but they got moving pretty fast. I got them outside for our annual first day of school pics, this time in front of our new front door! The bus did NOT pick them up...apparently the stop we had been told to wait at was no longer in use so I had to fly them to their schools. Luckily they are just four minutes away so they weren't late.
The bus kerfuffle was probably for the best though. In the stress of it all, my daughter forgot to be worried about her first day. I was in fixer mode which meant I wasn't having to keep myself from a tearful goodbye when my baby went off to high school. Instead it was me yelling "Go! Go! Go! Before they lock the door!" and breathing a sigh of relief when she slid in with the last bus kids. I zipped to the middle school and left my son there, who was laughing with a classmate before he got inside the door.
It wasn't until I drove away that I got that lump in my throat, but I didn't actually cry. These kids can handle this.
Cell phones are a wonderful thing. I texted them a couple times throughout the day, just doing a temperature check, and my daughter's texts were full of exclamation points and happy emojis. I knew she was doing just fine.
That night, when I got home, I got to have my first big yell at the kids in our new house (now is it home?) They had neglected to walk the dogs when they got off the bus and one of them peed on the new carpet - the dogs, not the kids. Afterward, when I asked my daughter how her first day of high school went she rolled her eyes and said "It was boooring."
Such a change from the night before. Kids.
Three days in and my son seems to have fallen back in the routine quite nicely. His band instructor is letting him use the brand new tenor sax in class because he is "the only kid he trusts with it." And my daughter has made a new friend - told you so! - answered a tough math question correctly in front of the class - told you so! - and has annoyed some of the upper class girls in her health care class because she actually knows the answers and isn't afraid to show the teacher she enjoys learning - told you so there too! I'm trying not to "I told you so" on her too hard though.
Last night at 10:30, as I was turning off the lights in the kitchen to go to bed, BOTH the kids remembered they had papers I needed to fill out by today, so I spent another 30 minutes signing my name to permission slips and social media release forms.
Yep. School is definitely back in session.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-11 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-08-15 08:00 pm (UTC)I think my town starts classes the right after Labor Day. Last year they started the last week of August because they surpassed all the previous year's snow day allowance. My next door neighbor's daughter is a senior this year. I have the feeling she's going to put house on the market after graduation...
I think once the first few days of kerfluffle subside kids realize they now have a routine and they fall into it. Or at least that's how it appears according to many of my mom friends :)