This appears to be the week it finally happened – that magical tipping point in the school year when kids and parents alike have flipped from the relief of sending their little bundles of joy off for a formal education every day to instead longing for the relief of summer vacation.
You hear it in the morning at the bus stop, in the evening at sports practices, probably even in your own house. “I don’t wanna get up. … We need a break. … Thank goodness the school year is FINALLY over!”
The telltale signs have been there for weeks. Warmer weather, playing outside, staying up later and not wanting to wake in the morning, to name a few. And that’s just us parents. Imagine how the kids are feeling!
What started in August as our directly proportional joy that summer vacation had finally come to a close inevitably bows to the opposite each May. Now parents and kids alike are counting down the days that remain until District 203’s last day of classes next Wednesday and District 204’s the following day.
And so will begin the decompression process. Kids will start sleeping later in the mornings, maybe parents, too. Alarms that had been set for 5:45 or 6 a.m. some days will now not be set at all. The children will rise when they want to, knowing they’ve been freed of the daily grind, at least for a while. They’ll stagger to the fridge bleary eyed, asking what’s for breakfast. At which point you will politely inform them that the kitchen is closed because it’s 2 p.m.
Yes, parents will welcome the respite, relaxing a bit ourselves at the successful completion of another school year. Camps, vacations and other rites of summer are still likely at least a couple of weeks away, bringing an altogether different kind of routine. But we’ve been here before. This is all cyclical, as we know by now.
To remind you of such, here’s a note from Future You, written three months from now to Present You. If you have any element of self-preservation left, read these words, and heed their warning:
“Hey, Present Me. Oh, you’re feeling pretty sassy now, aren’t you? All rejuvenated by the thought that you don’t have to get the kids off to school every day anymore. No more waking up early, making breakfasts and packing lunches. No more trudging to the bus stop in wind or rain or whatever other manic elements Mother Nature presents on any given day. Yeah, enjoy it while it lasts.
“You felt this way for, by your calculations, roughly 12 minutes. Until the first time the kids started fighting, hitting each other and arguing about what they’d watch on TV. The kitchen had ample food for all of about three hours, before it hit you that you now had to do snacks and lunches and juice boxes at home every day. How is it that the same kids can eat so much more just because they’re HERE? It makes no sense!
“Not to mention that the house hasn’t looked clean since the end of May. Soccer balls and baseball gloves seemingly litter every room of the place. What is it about these people? Do they not know how to pick up after themselves?
“Your car hasn’t seen the inside of the garage in months, giving way to the bikes and lawn tools and do you even know what that pile is over in the corner? It looks like it’s moving, and come to think of it, when was the last time you saw the dog?
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“Oh, sure. You marked a few things off the ol’ summer bucket list. You took the kids to Centennial Beach and the children’s museum. Even the arboretum. Somehow. But will you never learn that booking each summer day solid with activities is no different than getting them off to school every day? They still have to be washed and dressed and packed and sun-blocked and bug-sprayed and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
“Speaking of being too busy, who on earth thought it was a good idea to fill every other summer week up with camps – well, all but the two weeks you were able to get away on ‘vacation’ anyway.
“And while we’re on the topic, ‘vacation’ is a completely misleading word. ‘Summer vacation?’ A vacation from what? It’s not like the precious cherubs get along any better or pick up after themselves any more so when we’re away from home. You know what this summer has been a vacation from? Your sanity!
“Do you want to hear what else you learned? That summer is really just one big three-month back-to-school sale. No sooner than you put last year’s backpacks away, home came the new ones from the mall because that other shade of neon green is so last school year, not anywhere near as cool as the new neon green for this school year! Clothes and school supplies everywhere you look. Well, where there aren’t soccer balls and baseball gloves, anyway. And where the $*#@ is the dog?!?!?
“If I can give you one more piece of advice – don’t even start that (fill in the blank) project. You were all hot to trot and went and bought all the (necessary items) for (said big project) and here it sits. No further along than it was the first day you dropped everything and took the little darlings to the beach instead. Why don’t you just save yourself the time and aggravation and let the (unattended project) (atrophy in whatever way it would in due course)?
“So, live it up, Present Me. Enjoy those first 12 minutes. They’re all you’ve got. Thank goodness summer vacation is FINALLY over!”
Well, it might not go exactly like that. Perhaps you don’t have a dog.
Rob Manker is a freelance writer who lives, works and parents in Naperville.