Saturday, November 6, 2010

Decisions

Lately it seems like everyone is asking me if my son is going to go to preschool in September 2011.  Applications are due soon and the process of guaranteeing your spot is a serious one.

This has brought up a lot of issues for me.  Do I go back to work and put both kids in preschool all day, every day?  Do I put them in school until 3:30 pm and get a nanny to watch them until 6:30 pm every day?  Do I try and find a part time job that will give me more flexibility? 

OR

Do I just embrace what I am doing and keep my son home with me for at least another year?  Just because his older sister was so obviously ready for preschool at that age, it doesn't really mean he will be. 

I have been a Stay-at-Home Mom for 4 years this month and I've never really had a long term plan.  I've been hoping the right answer would just come to me.  It hasn't.

And I don't like that I am feeling pressure to make a decision.  I had my hair cut today (it had been a loooong time), and my hair stylist asked who was pressuring me.  Good question.  Maybe I'm the one putting all this pressure on myself.

Anyway, I don't usually read my husband's Wall Street Journal, but today there was an interesting set of articles on the state of Motherhood.  Check out Mother Madness by Erica Jong for an interesting perspective.  And then check out the author's daughter's perspective, Growing Up With Ma Jong.

Common sense would lead me to conclude that I really just need to do what I feel is right for my family and I.  Only problem is, I don't know what is right!

To be continued....

Late, Late, Late

I'll admit it.  We are late for school every morning.

Something happened when we moved to our new house.  I'm not sure what has changed in our schedule, but all of a sudden getting out the door in a timely manner is impossible.  As organized as I think I am the night before, something always comes up to throw us off.

I hate to be late.  And I am pretty hard core about keeping everything moving tickidy boom from the time I get out of bed.  I may be staying in bed a bit longer these days as it's colder and darker.  And I may be letting the babe sleep in a bit more because she has been coughing for weeks and weeks and I want her to get all the rest she can.  But really, it's starting to get to me.  Apparently I'm not the only one.

Parents from my daughter's school receive frequent emails from the administrators keeping us all up to date on classes, activities, bake sales, and the like.  On Friday we got a reminder about daylight savings time and timeliness.  It went something like this:

Just a reminder, please drop off your child at or before the 9:15 a.m. start time. If you drop them off after 9:15, one of the staff will take your child to the classroom. We are still in the 3-month acclamation time frame and we want to insure the least disruptions to the school day as possible. We also do not want there to be crowding by your child’s classroom for safety reasons.

My husband asked if I had read the email and proceeded to ask if it was directed at me specifically.  And yes, I admit that I have been a fairly consistent offender.  And yes, I am trying to change.  But no, I am not the only one in this boat.  And no, the email was not specifically directed at me (I can easily list off a number of other Mom offenders).

Somehow I'm going to figure this one out.  The fact that we moved 5 minutes further away should not make us 20 minutes later.  There are 15 minutes I have to account for and the fact that I have a bigger house isn't a good enough excuse. 

If you have any awesome morning routine secrets you'd like to share, feel free to do so!!