It’s a long weekend. “I have four at home days!” the five year old keeps telling people. Monday is off for Juneteenth, but Friday there was no school for him because it was a Teacher work day.
The ten year old is finished fourth grade. She missed the last day of school yesterday because she and her dad already had a trip planned but then the school year was extended to compensate for snow days. When I was growing up, perfect attendance was something we aspired to, but I’m coming to feel like it’s not the most important metric. I don’t want the kids to feel like attendance is optional or teach them to be cavalier with school policies, so I’m still a little conflicted about letting them miss school.
At any rate, I didn’t get a picture of the ten year old on her last day of school, but we did stop for Dairy Queen on the way home from school. There is always a frozen treat involved on the last day. Against my better judgement the baby got her own Blizzard to eat in the car and made a mess, but I couldn’t very well just have Blizzards for me and the ten year old and not for the baby.
Maybe because this long weekend comes at the end of the school year but it feels, more so than Memorial Day, that this is the weekend to kick off the summer. The weather is sunny, hotter some days than others, and perfect for some summer adventures.
So three and a half days on my own with the two little kids. I’ve found there is a bit of freedom when solo parenting, to not have to plan or negotiate free time with someone else since you know you just won’t be getting any until the kids go to bed.
Plans/aspirations for this long weekend:
– fold the mountain of laundry (perhaps while watching a movie with the kids)
– tidy the toy room (done this morning, but it is already a mess again)
– tidy the spare room
-cull some clothes and prep them to hand off to a friend (the culling happened last night the hand off will probably happen Monday)
– make muffins
-make Rice Krispie treats.
– Hike with the two little kids. I’m thinking Calvert Cliffs State Park where one can hike 1.5 miles or so to a beach then look for shark’s teeth. though we will have to get an early start because it is not a large park so they will close when at capacity. It will be an adventure for sure.
– the ten year old’s first swim meet.
– various social activities/ playdates. Essential to solo parenting weekends is making sure I have grown ups to talk to.
– post to this blog. This one is clearly a little meta. I have a whole bank of half written posts stemming from lots of happenings in life and in my brain the past month or so. I want to finish those thoughts and recaps push those thoughts out into the world.
It’s a good combination of “to do” and “for fun”, I think. I feel like if I don’t tackle some “to do” stuff on these long weekends, they will loom and I will get restless while doing the fun stuff. I guess it’s about balance. As is most things.
I once saw a news segment about a student that had perfect attendance from Primary through to the end of Grade 12 and it blew my mind! My kids actually miss quite a bit – between being sick or going on family trips, they likely miss an average of 8-10 days/year. I suspect this number will shrink as they get older; we’re a lot less likely to pull them out for a trip when they’re in high school with exams and a part-time job etc. But it would be something fun to aspire to – perfect attendance – but one that had never crossed my mind with my own kids!
It sounds like a nice mix of activities lined up for the days ahead. Enjoy 🙂