With two weeks of school left, the boys’ minds are in summer vacation mode already. Nobody wants to go to bed at night, nobody wants to get up in the morning, nobody wants to get dressed, and certainly nobody wants to go to school. The boys learned a lot at school this year. I don’t know where they learned how to phone it in, but that’s one life skill they seem to have down.
“Hello. Nursery School? I’ll be working from home today. Just pile the macaroni on my paper plate next to the glue and I’ll get to it first chance I get.”
Big Brother has a project due in a week. He hasn’t started it because maybe school will get over for the year without anybody noticing his wasn’t done. And once he moves on to middle school, they can’t touch him. The statute of limitations for fourth grade ends at the elementary school door.
Now that the weather has turned nice, it’s hard enough to corral all these open range rustlers into the house at bedtime, let alone get them into their beds. When you do get them all herded inside, they’re sweaty and grimy. Baths are nobody’s favorite, but a bath is five minutes that can be stretched into 20 when a boy needs to stall bedtime. Being clean is a small price to pay for that.
These boys have never owned a sense of urgency about getting ready for school in the morning, and the waning school year has lifted them to new heights of lethargy. Nobody’s in a hurry to get out of their pajamas, and when they do, Buster and Big Man would rather run around throwing underwear at each other than put on clothes.
Do they care that helping Mommy overcome all their morning tomfoolery puts extra pressure on me to get to work on time? Short answer: no. Long answer: not in the least. This morning I told them they were going to make me late.
“And then you’ll get fired,” Buster replied.* “And that will be good for you ‘cause then you’ll get to stay home all day with us.”
I could ride bikes all summer long with the kids.
I don’t know what Buster thinks he’s going to be doing at home all day when school’s still in session, but I think he’d learn quick enough he doesn’t want to spend his summer in the company of a ne’er-do-well who can’t hold a job. Clearly, he hasn’t thought about where he’s going to get a summer’s worth of popsicles when the gravy train stops rolling.
If I keep working, I will definitely miss out on lots of fun this summer. There will be the incessant fighting over bikes, scooters, and video game controllers. Being there for all those precious moments would put the cherry on top of unemployment. We could probably even afford metaphor cherries. They’re a dime a dozen with my blogger discount.
I’m going to try to make it through these last days of school without fulfilling Buster’s prophesy about getting fired, but this is only because I don’t know what’s good for me.
Snoozing on the Sofa 
Me too, as a teacher
Thank you for all you do. Now go enjoy summer!
In a time long long ago, I squabbled summers away with two brothers about who dad was to spend his energy on when he got home from work. Now…the squabbles are forgotten, while the father son summertime memories are fondly recalled. Enjoy your obviously great relationship with your sons.
If only that were all they had to fight over. You and your brothers must have been the good kids.
I loved “new heights of lethargy” but “being there for all those precious moments would put the cherry on top of unemployment. We could probably even afford metaphor cherries. They’re a dime a dozen with my blogger discount” took the metaphorical cake. My dad was a teacher, so he got to spend his summers listening to us kids bicker. Not surprisingly, he started his own seasonal house painting business. 🙂
I used to envy teachers their summers off. Now, I’m not so sure.
I think the people in charge of Start of Daylight Savings Time and End of School Year should synchronize their calendars more closely, Scott.
Seems to me the bit of a disjoint going in your household is great anecdotal evidence …
Happy Summer to the three boys and two endlessly busy parents!
I’ve complained about DST before. Nobody listens to me. Must be the Powers That Be want to play all night long too.
LOVED this post, Scott …. another one that just had me grinning! OH I remember those days well when the nice weather put an itch in my pants and to sit through classes was sheer torture. And I do appreciate the little footnote explaining the followup of “Daddy will be fired” comment. Good for you! You and your wife surely have your hands full! God help you this summer!!! LOL 😜
Thank you, Amy. Our first hurdle will be setting up a system where they read a little every day and getting them to stick to it. That alone will require much of God’s help.
Well you could take a leave of absence from work too spend the whole summer with the fighting hooligans and then go back in the fall when they do. Maybe they could get a paper route to pay for dinner. It would keep them busy..
Leave of absence; paper route. You’re full of jokes today.
Always. 😉