Back to School...FINALLY!

So my kids are back at school.

Does anyone else hear the Hallelujah Chorus playing, or is that just me?

School breaks are really tough around here. I have a lot of children, and I’m just not used to having them AROUND all the time.

I mean, I love them. But not ALL DAY LONG, for WEEKS, you know?

No seriously, the real problem is actually all the unstructured time spent in close proximity to each other. It tends to lead to a lot of fighting.

So my choices during school holidays are:

(1) Plan a lot of activities and then force the children to participate in them.

(2) Allow the kids to lounge around the house like slugs, watching junk on TV and idly picking at each other.

You would think it’s a no-brainer: Just pick Option #1 and be done with it. Plan a lot of activities, and don’t allow them to be irritable sloths!

But the problem is Part B of Option #1, forcing the kids to participate in said activities.

This requires me to turn into a combination head cheerleader/Mary Poppins. “Won’t it be a lark if we all pop over to the park for a picnic, and then to the grocery?” (Remember, put that in a British accent and it’s automatically funnier.)

Oh yeah, I’ll admit that sometimes the activities are just errands in disguise. But often it’s something really fun.

But don’t forget the Rule of Multiple Children:

There will always be at LEAST one kid who hates anything you pick, no matter how great it is.

I mean, we live in Hawaii. It’s paradise, right? But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard variations of the following whine: “The beach? AGAIN?”

Ungrateful little slugs, aren’t they?

And there is the little problem of most outside-the-house-activities costing money…

Anyways, usually our holidays are a mixture of Forced Activity and Rampant Sluggardry.

So by the end of the time off I’m thoroughly worn out. Then I have to really watch it, because that’s when my resistance is down and I might let the kids do something I’ll later regret, just to get them to be QUIET for five minutes.

That’s’ how we ended up with some pet mice last January, by the way…

But forget all that; the good news is: I’ve survived Christmas break once again!

This year, WITHOUT any unwanted pets.

Hallelujah!