Back To School – Joy? Or Not so Much?

Controversial: It’s okay if you didn’t feel that way. I certainly didn’t.

If one were practical, parents’ “joy” of returning to school for some is less joy and just mere relief — more to do with the economic and childcare crises. School provides at least a partial solution to affordable childcare and lunch while parents work and struggle to make ends meet.

So I am only too aware that I am very, very lucky that I could take some extra time this summer again with my children. On my extra days off, my boys climbed hills, explored castles, went to the beach, saw the solar eclipse, and at one point, locked each other in pillories. They turned out to be great little roadtrippers, and happily tagged along with me for my trips to Cork and Galway. I defied death on a nearly daily basis, avoiding squishmallos and hot wheels on the stairs. In my house this week, I don’t know who was more reluctant for first day of school: me or my children.

But now — school is back. My schedule gets busier in the academic year; they return to their whirlwind of activities.

Next summer, they will be another year older. And one summer very soon, they won’t care if I have a day off work. They won’t want to go to the beach or race up a hill — or want an entire day to build the ultimate hot wheel track down the stairs.