Confessions of a grade school mom...

Alright ladies! Now that my kids are gone seven hours a day, and I've been a SAHM for the past seven years, I've got a confession or two about the recent life changes we've all experienced! Feel free to add your own! Whether you are a SAHM, kids are in daycare/preschool, full time vs half day...spill the beans!

1) silence is bliss. OMG. Why did I wait so long to send them off to school?!?
2) seven hours is too short, believe it or not.
3) when they all get off the bus, it's like sensory overload. For me. Non.stop.talking
4) I'm enjoying the solitary time. A lot.
5) I scramble the last hour to get everything done that I should have in the previous six hours...

Ok. NEXT!

Disclaimer: my kids are loving school. Lol. We recently moved, so the school is new, riding the bus is new, all day school is new. And they've done amazing. And I do miss them. And I love the morning hugs when they wake up. But man, you can't put a price tag on silence lol.

 

Only 2 in school full time and they haven't done full week yet but I agree, it is soooo quiet with just Hannah here! Next year will be even quieter. I'm looking forward to more routine but my coworker is due any day with baby and I'll be working full time as well so a lot of my quiet time will be spent working! Hope her 12wks go as fast as mine did hahaha

 

I was doing full time school last year...so most of this is not new:
1. 7 hours does go by way too fast
2. I get a lot more done when I am home alone
3. The talking is non stop after school.
4.  But I love how happy they are to see me at the end of the day

 

I am not a SAHM but a WAHM, and yes, when they get off the bus it is sensory overload.  I wish I could take a little cat nap every day before the buses arrive!

 

I'm a raging b*tch when they get home. I am having a tough time of it. I don't know if it's because it's just utter chaos-they are hungry, thirsty, need to get ready for soccer, tired, whiny, want to tell me about their day(times three). I'm kinda perplexed. I hope it changes real soon, because I feel like the biggest a… when they come home. I'm just…mean. I shouldn't be. It's been 7 hours since I've seen them!

 

I am neither SAHM nor WAHM - I work outside my home. But my daughter is cared for by my MIL @ her home. Even then , I was  over the moon when my daughter started full day school - that does reduce a lot of chaos and whining because she is bored. Truly the whining gets on my nerve every vacation, so here I go with my list

1. Predictable schedule - I can plan my work !
2. Daughter who knows *what to expect when* that does save  a lot of melt downs
3. With limited grandma time - less chance that she is sugar high at end of the day!

 

 
I found this to be true for me when my kids were littler.  It was like a sensory overload moment for me.  I had my nice quiet day where I would get things done.  I would get to sew with the cat curled up with me.  And then this overload of noise and hunger walked through the door.  Logically, I knew it had been a long time since I had seen them and I wanted to be happier to see them, but the noise and whining seemed even more grating than normal. 
 
My kids are now in 5th.  They don't come home hungry because now they have the last lunch.  Timothy is likely to come home, dump the backpack and go outside and play basketball or soccer.  Sarah is likely to find the cat and curl up with her for some quiet moments and reading time.  They do their homework without me reminding them.  It's not near the assault on the senses that it used to be.
 
Marissa

 

1. I work full time and I am totally jealous...that's all.

 

I have two in school and two at home.  I am also totally jealous of all your silence and kitty snuggles.
 
I have to go find out what noise is and pray my hardwood floors have escaped another day without needing to be refinished...

 

 
Megs, I am finding that too. I think for me it's also just having to adjust back into SAHM momming, and also for the kids to get into a consistent routine with house rules. But yeah, sensory overload with the want, want, want, want. That is wayyyy too much.

 

I pick up the kids from daycare after a long day at work and sometimes I acutally say 'no one is allowed to freaking talk until we get home'...

 

 
There aren't near that many kitty snuggles now.  The silence got to be too much so I went to work at the school part-time, 8:30-12:30.  I needed more social interaction and time to grocery shop without the kids. It's a wonderful compromise.
 
It is sweet to see my kitty waiting at the door for me when I come home and how affectionate she is before the kids get home.
 
Marissa

 

I don't think I'd be able to stay at home with no kids all day, I'd have to get a job or do something.  Although my cat would prefer I just sit at home and pet her. :laughing:

 

Marissa, thanks for validating my feelings! And you too Jen! I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me. Wait-don't answer that!

I feel busier now than ever. It's crazy. I'm exhausted.

I should say, I am working, just not consistently. I'm baking cookies day and night. But with kids in school, I can now do it during day light hours and go to bed at 9p instead of 3a! So far, so good!

 

 
This is me. When we first get home, I really struggle. They both eat lunch pretty early and are starving when they come home. They are still adjusting to having no breaks during the day. (In kinder, they had a rest time towards the end of the day.) And I'm still trying to get a routine down with the baby. I just feel like it never ever stops. I'm lucky if the baby sleeps for an hour at a time, so even when the big kids are at school I'm trying to get stuff done around the baby. He's teething, so we're aren't sleeping a lot (ok, we weren't sleeping before teething, but it's even worse now) and I just feel like I'm already at my limit. And then they are talking at once and starving and then fighting with each other to talk. It's so much at one time. I'm almost always yelling in the car by the time we get home. 

 

I'm making Royce write sentences because he missed school today. He said he wasn't feeling well this morning, but less than three minutes after Alice goes off to school he starts jumping off of the furniture.  So he's totally faking.  I'm annoyed because he felt just bad enough to stay home but not bad enough to lay around.  I told him that if I caught him jumping or running, when I went to pick up Alice (early for a dentist appointment) I'd be checking him in to school. 

 

the girls were in full day kinder last year in NJ.  so I'm used to the blissful quiet, with just me and baby.  although we're MUCH busier this year, it's a littler easier, cuz baby is older, and on a good nap schedule, and i'm staying organized.  while they're gone, I prepare dinner and smoothies (to blend at dinner)... I get their clothes out for the next day... I prepare their lunches for the next day... I prepare their snacks for after school... this is mostly cuz mon-wed we are rushing from school to dance or karate, and by the time we come home from extracurriculars, it's dinner, homework, ready for bed.  so ANYway, I feel more relaxed when I come pick them up from school, cuz I know I have everything done.  and I just let them talk to me both at once, and I do my best to listen to both at the same time lol... I just remember my mom being in a bad mood a lot of the time when i'd come home from school (maybe for the same reasons... she got a lot done in a nice, quiet, clean house, and then we come in with chaos), and it sucked, and so i'm trying to do my best to let the girls know i'm happy they're home, not annoyed.  besides, once they get it all out, they forget about me and just love on each other the rest of the day lol

 

Oh my goodness, I totally relate to all 5 of yours, OP!! I have been a SAHM for 5.5 years now and my boys have been in full-day Kindergarten for 5 weeks now. I had SO many plans of all the things i was going to do once they're in school full day, and also planning to do review and get back into work part-time ... those 7 hrs really do go by fast!