Back to School

Dear momma of public-school kids,

The first few weeks of school can be hard. Even when they go smoothly—we are quickly reminded that the barriers our children face during a school year are different than those of summer in so many ways.

Give yourself some grace—what you are choosing to do every year is no small feat.  

You just relinquished control over your most precious people for a minimum of 8 hours a day yet again. While in many logistical ways, this is a huge relief, in several emotional ways, it’s a lot.

You’ve basically enrolled your young kids into a brand-new profession for a single year. With each of these new jobs come new bosses, expectations, rules, and standards that both you and your child must quickly become acquainted with.

Not to mention, all the other “employees” your child will be working with in this new setting are also new hires — trying to figure out the same system at the exact same time.

Meanwhile, the adolescent children are asked to endure this same scenario at an even higher frequency, as they try to adapt to the expectations of multiple bosses every few hours of every day.

This process can bring out emotions and fears in our kids that the previous months had managed to keep dormant. Adapting to a new environment and trying to meet its performance standards is no small endeavor on its own. Add to that the additional effort of trying to navigate new social dynamics, and you have a recipe for exhaustion — on a whole different level than the one brought on by summer’s late nights, busy schedules, and take-out cuisine you were juggling just a few short weeks ago.

While you might know that “getting back into routine” will ultimately be good for everyone in the long run, it’s ok if it takes your family more than a single week to find its rhythm. Give yourself grace as everyone in the household adjusts. You’re essentially a summer cab driver turned Human Resources officer, trying to find the beat to your own drum— a feat you’ve been working at since the day your first child was brought into this world.

Every year, as the school year begins, I feel the need to remind myself: my kids have a place in this world. I force myself to set aside the fear that they might be left behind and choose to trust the belief that each of them has a purpose of their own.

Time and again, the rhythm of the school year is eventually found, and they are offered the space to explore that purpose in ways summer simply doesn’t ask of them. It nudges them to show up, step out, and practice being who they’re becoming.

Soon enough, we will all be ready for a new song to be played, and it will be time for another summer to be had, but until then—try and give yourself grace.

Sincerely,

Another Mom Trying to Do the Same Thing