Back to School Blues

[elsie3]

You know it's the start of a new school year when:
- You sign any scrap of paper that appears in front of you.
- The only thing longer than your shopping list is your to-do list.
- The only thing shorter than your patience level are the numbers in your bank account.
- You greet your students in the afternoon not with the words "how was your day?" but with "which class and how much?".
- Not since Black Friday has Wal-Mart been so crowded and the shelves so empty.

 

[Nanbo]

Elsie, I just had to respond to this thread! As a child-free couple, my husband and I celebrate back-to-school with gusto! We always take our vacations after Labor Day and avoid all the whining and crying that goes on when families vacation (and that's the parents whining and crying !!!)!

 

[DixieGirl]

@ Elsie, LOL...so funny & so true! I made the mistake of going shopping for school supplies on the Saturday of the tax free weekend...what a nightmare! My kids school offer back to school supply kits that I usually purchase but I didn't this year b/c I "thought it would be so much fun" taking them shopping on our own to pick out their stuff. Ha, ha...they could have cared less and I got stuck trying to push through the aisles and digging through the picked over shelves

 

[Justinef]

My 'little' girl is going off to University for the first time next week - today we went shopping, not just for stationary, but for all the pots and pans and things she'll need. I thought I was going to be OK about it....but, yes, it's 'back to school blues' for sure.
I'll have to fill my time with more Cathe

 

[elsie3]

Elsie, I just had to respond to this thread! As a child-free couple, my husband and I celebrate back-to-school with gusto! We always take our vacations after Labor Day and avoid all the whining and crying that goes on when families vacation (and that's the parents whining and crying !!!)!

Good for you, Nancy! I wouldn't deal with us if I didn't have to, either.

 

[jengollf]

My 'little' girl is going off to University for the first time next week - today we went shopping, not just for stationary, but for all the pots and pans and things she'll need. I thought I was going to be OK about it....but, yes, it's 'back to school blues' for sure.
I'll have to fill my time with more Cathe

this is my current situation. I have two daughters. Daughter #1 left home 3 years ago to join the air force and daugher #2--my baby--moved into the college dorms two weeks ago. The house seems so empty. I also thought I would be okay with it, but have shed a lot of tears since she left. Seeing her empty bedroom, her place at the table (now clean and no longer covered with her crap), her books and purse and keys no longer on the loveseat--oh, and her car no longer parked in front of the house. It has been HARD. I'm ok now, my emotions are evening out, but it has been so much harder than I expected! For me, I guess it's empty nest blues.

 

[elsie3]

My 'little' girl is going off to University for the first time next week - today we went shopping, not just for stationary, but for all the pots and pans and things she'll need. I thought I was going to be OK about it....but, yes, it's 'back to school blues' for sure.
I'll have to fill my time with more Cathe

this is my current situation. I have two daughters. Daughter #1 left home 3 years ago to join the air force and daugher #2--my baby--moved into the college dorms two weeks ago. The house seems so empty. I also thought I would be okay with it, but have shed a lot of tears since she left. Seeing her empty bedroom, her place at the table (now clean and no longer covered with her crap), her books and purse and keys no longer on the loveseat--oh, and her car no longer parked in front of the house. It has been HARD. I'm ok now, my emotions are evening out, but it has been so much harder than I expected! For me, I guess it's empty nest blues.

Thanks for the reminder to enjoy the time I have left. I'll be losing my HS senior next summer, and I'm already thinking in terms of "last this" and "last that". So, with all my whining, I still love having my kids here.

 

[tralaiven]

This is now my first full week in back-to-schoolness....and all I can say is that I feel like a taxi/bus driver! Last year I was working full time, so DH did the honors of driving them, but wow, here I am... Can you say "on the road again"?

Yes, and not to mention the school continually asking me for money....we pay such high property taxes here in CA....isn't that what those are for? And yet I have to pay supplemental to just about every class my daughter has.....and if it has anything to do with the arts....just hold on to your wallet!,,, $100!!!

Of course, I will do what I need to do for my children and am grateful they are healthy...

 

[DixieGirl]

This is now my first full week in back-to-schoolness....and all I can say is that I feel like a taxi/bus driver! Last year I was working full time, so DH did the honors of driving them, but wow, here I am... Can you say "on the road again"?

Yes, and not to mention the school continually asking me for money....we pay such high property taxes here in CA....isn't that what those are for? And yet I have to pay supplemental to just about every class my daughter has.....and if it has anything to do with the arts....just hold on to your wallet!,,, $100!!!

Of course, I will do what I need to do for my children and am grateful they are healthy...

Oh, the extra fees! My oldest is in his 2nd year of middle school and the fees that started last year, just to be able to pick up his schedule is crazy....not the mention all the other things the school asks for through the year. He also made the high school swim team and after paying those fees and buying the required uniform, swim suit and a few optional things it ended up being $600 Thankfully he already had all the swim equipment he needed from swimming with his club team or we would have been raking out $50-60 more. I agree though, I'm thankful for my kids and that they are healthy and can get up every morning and go to school and their sports. It goes by all too fast

 

[jcpolsky]

Oh, the extra fees! My oldest is in his 2nd year of middle school and the fees that started last year, just to be able to pick up his schedule is crazy....not the mention all the other things the school asks for through the year. He also made the high school swim team and after paying those fees and buying the required uniform, swim suit and a few optional things it ended up being $600 Thankfully he already had all the swim equipment he needed from swimming with his club team or we would have been raking out $50-60 more. I agree though, I'm thankful for my kids and that they are healthy and can get up every morning and go to school and their sports. It goes by all too fast

My boys swim, too. I cannot believe how much those little swim suits cost. I can buy a whole outfit for just one of what those suits cost!