The kids go back to school next week. Alex is in 3rd grade this year, but he’s going to have the same teacher as last year, and his best friend will be in the same class again, so I’m not too worried about him. I’m much more concerned about the girls. Ana is starting preschool, and Angie is starting daycare. Fortunately I don’t start work until the following week, so I can spend as much time as I need to make the morning drop-off go smoothly. Plus I’m going to pick up all the kids early and spend some time chatting with the girls’ teachers to see how they did on their first day.

I’m sad that my time staying home with Angie has come to an end. I’m going to miss sniffing the top of her fuzzy baby head every other second, but seeing as my back has ached continuously for the past month because of carrying her around all day, I’m also really looking forward to a break.

Kevin thinks that my job is the best thing that ever happened to our work-life balance. I was less sure, at least until this year. I enjoyed hanging out with the kids the last two summers, but I didn’t really see any benefits. Now I see how my staying home over the summer gives them much needed time to decompress and lets us all reconnect with each other. It also gives us all a chance to grow in other ways.

I guess it didn’t hurt that Kevin also took a lot of time off this summer. In fact we all enjoyed having him around so much that he’s already making plans to spend as much time home as possible next summer.

Tags: philosophical
Categories: kids and parenting