Back to School

Recently, I saw a really funny commercial showing a man leaping with joy as he pulled something down an aisle.  It was revealed to be a couch, with his two sullen kids sitting on it, and the background music was the famous Christmas song which extols, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”  It was a back-to-school ad and that dad was jumping for joy.  It was very clever, so kudos to Staples.  Yes, the kids are going back to school. We parents get our lives back–especially our evenings.

The job of parent revolves around the school calendar.  Our chauffeuring responsibilities are different during the school year than during vacation times.  One of the big differences, from my perspective, is the bedtimes for the boys.  On “school nights” they have a curfew that gives us some quiet at night.  However, during summer, the boys are allowed more freedom and Will, my almost-16-year-old, loves to stay up late and sleep late.  At least I get quiet time in the summer mornings.  It’s said that the more they sleep, in the summer, the more they’re growing.  Will is 6 feet, 2 inches already! read more

Summertime and the Livin’ is Easy

I love that song.  Who can’t help but love it?  It’s nearing summertime by this dad’s astute intuition and the school calendar, and that tells me it’s summer once again and what are we going to do with the kids?  A stay-at-home parent’s life is dictated by driving.  Driving his or her kids to and from school, to their various extra-curricular activities, to doctor’s appointments, etc.  We live in the car, so summer is actually my break, too.

However, each summer poses a challenge of what to provide to best occupy my boys and possibly add positively to their life experiences.  I’ve given up on any sports-oriented activities as they’ve rejected all of them.  I signed up to coach a baseball team when Will, my older son, expressed interest in playing ball at around age eight.  It ended with me continuing to finish the season as coach while he quit halfway through.  Now, we all know that my allowing him to quit was a failure of mine as a parent, but we also know that parenting is an ongoing learning experience and one we might succeed at, finally, with our grandkids.  And, that’s only because we can send them home after a while. read more