Parents can't wait for kids to start school, but miss them as soon as they walk out the door.
Parents can’t seem to agree on anything. In fact, the end of summer and the start of school each fall create conflicting emotions – even in the same individual. Parents can’t seem to decide whether they are excited about school starting, or if they’re upset about summer ending.
For sure, anyone using social media knows that parents comment often about “doing the happy dance” or singing, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” as they shop for school supplies. There’s even a viral video of a mom who, a couple of years ago, was videotaped doing a happy dance as her children’s bus pulled away in the background. Each year since, she has apparently created a new happy dance, to a different song, each time expressing her excitement that her kids are back in class.
Some parents believe this excitement over the start of the school year is a myth. They ask, how can parents want to send their little ones off for hours on end, to spend a good chunk of their day with strangers?
Many parents, usually of young elementary school children, say they get emotional on the first day of school. Just about every parent takes a photo of their smiling kids, standing on the front lawn in their new outfits, carrying their brand new backpacks. Then they ask the kids to pause as they’re stepping onto the school bus, for just one more picture. Some parents even follow the bus to school to take even more photos as their children walk into the building, and yet again when they reach their classroom.
By the time children have been in school full time for a few years, most parents aren’t following that bus to school. But many parents still admit to getting emotional as they wave goodbye to their children.
Many of these same parents have spent a good deal of time over the summer complaining about their children’s non-stop bickering, addiction to video games or whines of, “I’m bored.” Let’s face it – spending 24 hours a day with the little ones can be pretty exhausting.
Yet, for all of our frustrations, how quickly we forget. As that bus drives away, or we drop them off at the curb at school, we remember the good times. The trips to the beach, the science museum and the amusement park. The sleepovers, the movie nights and the s’mores. Even the “little moments,” such as preparing a meal together, complete with dessert, enjoying a book together or spending an afternoon working on a puzzle. The little moments – just ordinary things, really, but sometimes hard to come by in a busy family’s schedule – might not seem significant to the children until they’re few and far between.
I don’t get emotional when my children board the bus for the first day of school. I do look back wistfully at the carefree days of summer, but I also look ahead to the bright future that awaits them.
Kate Roy can be reached at kate_roy@live.com.