He's loving it - I can see him learning, growing, maturing. But I'm grieving - losing my little boy to the "big school boy" that he is becoming. I feel like I'm giving away part of my parenting role - having to trust the teacher with the heart and mind of my precious boy. When he comes home from school, he is so tired. He doesn't really want to talk; he just wants to blob in front of the TV. Last week, he fell asleep in the car on the way home! We eat dinner early and he is in bed by 6:30. I feel like I'm missing out on a big chunk of his life.
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| First day of Prep, Feb 2012 |
So, I look to you, parents of older children.... How do you do it? How do you juggle school, extracurricular activities, church, family? How do you make sure you are still getting enough one-on-one time with your kids? And how do you let go of the grief of "losing" your little person?
4 comments:
Well, obviously, not having older ones, I have no advice... but I recognise your struggle. This was one motivation I had for wanting to homeschool, just the idea of missing out of so much. (We've since decided it probably isn't for us).
PS Mr Sociable is so cute in his uniform!
It's a hard one, but remember Hannah and Tsiporah. They gave their children to the church and the egyptian monarchy to be raised and they were still mighty men of God.
Be encouraged; it's not the end. Xxx
Believe it or not, this is something I still struggle with on a daily basis (and my eldest is 8!) I've found it hard to let go and it's hard to accept that there will be other influences in our children's lives (school, peers etc) that won't always share the same values that we do. For me, I've had to really prioritise the time I have with my school-aged kids - and make a conscious effort to play and do 'God-stuff'. I have to plan it, otherwise it's just so easy to let the afternoons and weekends slip by with no meaningful interaction.
I have two bigger ones and one little one. I am not sure that I will be pushing her off to the education with the same speed that I did the first two for all the reasons you mentioned here.
As much as I can see the positives in school I am not totally sure they put weigh the negatives.
Fairy wishes and butterfly kisses #teamIBOT
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