Back to school – I dread it, and then when it arrives it’s actually quite fun to see everyone again. There’s a beautiful sense of hope that will hum for a week or two while everyone compares summers and gets to know new teachers.
It didn’t hurt that it was a goldilocks day all around. Not too hot, not too foggy – just right. The kids like their teachers so far, and they each have good friends in class, which doesn’t hurt.
Here’s a back to school story in which poor parenting (finally) pays off.
Last week, a number of smart parents we know were easing their kids back into earlier bed and rising times, to make the transition to school time a little less painful. Oh yes, we thought, of course you’d do that. But then we just kept filling our evenings and staying up late, and we’d think, we’d really better get on that transition action. Then on Monday night we got all indignant and said “It’s the last real summer night!” and let them stay up a bit later – nothing crazy, mind you, but late enough that we were sure we’d officially blown any shot at a normal sleep schedule for the night before school. The kids would be groggy and listless, and it would be squarely our fault.
Then Tuesday night rolled in, and wouldn’t you know it was just like Tuesday day, which was HOT. HOT HOT HOT. Hot enough to prove our kids really should not ever live in the south (heck I’m not sure they could make it in Novato) since the heat made them completely pathetic, and that night they could not sleep a wink. Honey wandered into our room at midnight groaning; she’d never sleep again in her life. Then, understandably, she crawled in next to me and conked out, because it’s so much cooler squashed in between your parents.
Can you even imagine how grumpy we’d be today if we’d invested all that effort into a proper sleep transition? That was a close one.