My oldest child started kindergarten this year. We have been very excited and the first couple of months of “big school” have gone pretty well. We definitely had some “adjustment” issues to deal with during the first few weeks but we have all managed to make it through those. Contrary to what numerous stay at home mothers seem to deal with, my biggest adjustment has NOT been my personal emotions of dealing with my children reaching school age. Rather, more than 2 months after school started, I am still trying to figure out how to survive and thrive in the carpool line!
I have a number of friends and aquaintances with children older than mine. I have been hearing, “Just you wait. You’ll see” come out of their mouths for quite some time. Just like marriage and childbirth (and lots of other things), no one can really give you an adequate picture of what it will be like. You just have to experience it.
Until August 14, 2006, I didn’t really believe what I heard. Now I know that I was wrong. I have 2 college degrees but I had to make 3 phone calls just to fill out my carpool registration correctly.!
Here are a few other things that I have picked up along the way…
- People in the school post signs along the carpool route for the people sitting in the carpool line to read. They think it is a good way to communicate with parents, guardians, caretakers, etc. Here’s the problem: people don’t pay attention to the signs they read. People will sit in their vehicles with their phones to their ears WHILE they are reading the sign that tells them NOT TO USE CELL PHONES WHILE IN THE CARPOOL LINE.
- I like driving a car instead of an SUV or a van. It is something that makes me feel original and different. I’m sure that, if anyone else in the line notices or cares that I am driving a car instead of an SUV or a van, they wonder what is wrong with me and why I have not “upgraded” yet.
- Some children still walk to school. We are lucky to live in an area that has “neighborhood” schools. Our family is not quite close enough to walk but there are lots of families that do. There is something a little old fashioned and refreshing about that and I enjoy observing while I am in the carpool line.
- Based on what I hear and see, part of my status as a mother is determined by how long I sit in the line each day and who sees me doing it. I don’t know what it is but, apparently, there is some really great prize that awaits the 1st car in line! Since I still have a younger child that naps, I tend to roll in toward the back of the line and I don’t leave home until after it starts moving. Obviously, my loss. Judging from the number of people that rush to get there early so they can sit and wait, I am missing out on something big!
- We don’t pay our teachers enough! At the end of their days, they are charged with managing the “troop movement” from classroom to carpool line. They arrange for their students to gather their things and walk in an orderly way so they can be safely deposited into the 1)bus going to an after-school program, 2) line of children that are allowed to walk home, 3)the supervision of someone picking them up in person and/or 4) waiting cars. They would rather pack their own bags and gather their own coats but they bring my child to me. And the same love and care that starts his day in the morning ends his day in the afternoon.
