UNITED STATES—It is September 2 as I am writing this column. So, what does that mean? Labor Day has come and gone by the time you read this column, and all kids are back in school fully. Yeah, depending on what part of the country you live in, there are some school districts that return in early August, some who return in late August and those who return after Labor Day.
This applies for elementary school, middle school, high school and college, and for adults work is back in full force too. Yes, routine has dawned upon us, which I always find to be not an odd thing, but a norm that I sometimes don’t always understand. It is like WE HAVE TO GET INTO THE ROUTINE, whether that is a good or bad thing.
Do I believe routine is a bad thing? Not at all, I think routine is very important to have especially for children because it gets them in the mold of going to bed at a timely fashion, preparing lunch, being alert and active in the classroom, doing homework, having done time and then extracurricular activities.
The extracurricular activities are not always fun for the parent. Why? They’re working the vast majority of the day. Then they have to pick up the kiddos from school if they’re not of driving age, which is most students. Then they have to take them to that extracurricular activity, then home, then prepare dinner, then prepare for the next day. It can at times feel like a never-ending cycle which is not always the fun. The parents have a lot on their plate and I think at times we have to cut the parent some slack.
I mean imagine you’re getting up at 6 a.m. or earlier, you have to get the kids ready for school, you might be taking them to school, then heading to work afterwords, leaving work, picking up the kids, grabbing a bit to eat or a snack and then having to take them to extracurricular activities. The day starts early, and it ends late, so by that time the child and the adult end the day they’re exhausted.
You cannot wait until the weekend because you finally have an opportunity to decompress and just chill. The problem with the fall routine being back in force is the weekends are packed with activities too if the kid plays sports, so the parent doesn’t get a break, but then again, they do with the kids being in school for at least seven to eight hours five days a week.
So, I suspect for the stay-at-home parents they love the routine portion being in the mix, for the working parent they probably can’t wait until summer returns to have a moment to decompress and take a vacation or two as needed. It doesn’t hurt to have a ripple in that routine once in a while because it teaches the child and the adult the importance of adaptability. Things are not always going to go the way that you expect or want them to.
You have to worry about traffic delays, school letting out early, school being closed, parent-teacher conference, business meetings, business lunches and so much more. Life is full of chaos even if we don’t want that chaos a majority of the time.
Written By Jason Jones
