By a professional faculty dad of a 8 year old son and 5 year old daughter.
Summer’s Over.
First week of school. Kindergarten and third grade. Back to soccer schedules, swimming lessons, and the busy-ness of fall.
But hold on just a second. This isn’t about them. It’s about me! Summer’s over for me, too, you know. I didn’t have to take the kids to school every morning for a whole 10 weeks, for crying out loud!
During the school year, my wife leaves for work before the kids get out of bed. But she has summers off. Which means that I have summers off from being a solo dad.
I didn’t have to get them out of bed, make them breakfast, or tie their shoes. I didn’t care if beds were made, teeth were brushed, or homework was done. It was heavenly! I was … independent!
I was able to ride my bike to my office at OSU. Three to five times a week! It’s a 12 mile round trip and building exercise right into my daily routine was great! A big step for me, I giant step for parent-kind. The exercise boost did wonders for me; I have never felt better.
But summer came crashing to a halt this week, and I am super dad once again. I guess I’ll have to find another way to keep the old blood pressure down.
And something peculiar has happened to my kids: They are getting out of bed all on their own. They are getting themselves dressed and doing all those things that I used to do for them. Are they becoming independent? Strange how that happens. I guess sometimes a break does the body good in many ways.