Well I don't know about you but I, for one am pretty damn happy that school returns tomorrow. Its been a long 6 weeks with the kids on holidays and we are all suffering from "School holiday fatigue".
I was saying to my husband yesterday after another annoying argument with the kids that you get to a point where you all need some routine and structure back in your lives and perhaps 6 week is just a tiny bit long for the kids to be off. I then got a tweet from my friend after complaining about my little shits, (whoops, I mean angels), saying her kids get 8 weeks off and they are not due back until the 3rd of Feb. To be honest, I nearly vomited reading this as I just couldn't imagine 8 weeks with my little angels. Of course I love them dearly but sheesh I need some Katie time badly!
The holidays always start with so much excitement, the kids have school fatigue and are dying to get out of the routine and constraints and I'm always dying for it to finish too so I can get a break from the school lunch routine, homework stress and the drop off and pick up nightmare. There is Christmas and Santa to look forward to and the joy of Summer sets in. Of course the first few weeks are never that fun for us mum's as we are the ones organising all the Christmas and Santa excitement but after that is done with we can hopefully relax a bit too and the family is at it's peak of happy togetherness and wonderfully relaxed attitudes.
I find the period around New Year to be the best as I am normally not working and the kids are still excited from Christmas and I eventually get to relax and lie around the pool a lot. I also tend to drink a lot of cocktails at this time as I'm experimenting with all the left over booze from Christmas day and I'm drinking for the fun of it and not for the stress of it!
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| My favourtie Margarita |
So then the holidays continue and this is when things start to get a tiny bit ugly. The kids start to get bored and you start ringing around their friends to organise sleepovers and catch ups and then they start wanting McDonalds pretty much every day and you start handing out money like water. You are driving them everywhere trying to juggle work and you are texting people to see if they would be happy to have the kids for the day whilst you work (thank you to all my girls who help me out at this time) and then you feel obligated to have their kids for the day too even though you don't like Johnny cos he is a little shit but you have to suck it up cos you need the favour returned again the next week. This is when I start drinking for the stress of it and not for the enjoyment of it!
In the final 2 weeks of holidays things are now getting very ugly. The kids are tired and bored, they have bad attitudes and are getting stressed about going back to school. This year is a particularly stressful one for my kids as they are both starting a new school and have no clue about their teachers or friends so this may be adding to my drinking situation (that's my excuse anyway). There is also the issue of how much you have to spend to get them ready to go back to school. New school shoes and sport shoes, new uniforms and haircuts, book packs, lunch boxes, drink bottles and I'm not going to even begin to talk about contacting the damn books! That job is the devils work!
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| Just some of the crap to take to school |
So here we are, the day before school and although I'm excited about getting my time back I'm also nervous and worried about my kids. Will they meet new friends? Will they have nice teachers? Will they be happy? Which is really all I want for them at their age. I know I will be over the lunch box stress after about a week but I'm glad they will be getting back into a routine and hopefully they will start being angels again (although angels might be a bit of a stretch for my kids). I'm sure the tiredness will make them grumpy after the first week and the early bedtimes will frustrate my daughter but once we get on a roll it will be just like riding a bike and we will settle back into our routine and I will start drinking for the enjoyment again and maybe even start whipping up a few more cocktails on a Friday afternoon.
So to all the mums out there who are getting their own time back this week, cheers to us and I hope your kids settle in well to their new classes and all goes smoothly. And to those mums who have to wait another week, my sympathies to you and be sure to make sure the liquor cabinet is full for the last week!
Love ya guts
Katie xx
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