There are times when I am sitting at the dining room table doing school work with my son and and it is nearly impossible to keep myself from banging my head on the table in frustration. My son is such a bright kid, but some days he just will not focus. He will not listen. He will not DO AS I SAY. I do not like it when he doesn’t do as I say. I’m the boss, ya know? I am also a pleasure to live with, I assure you.
All kidding aside, there are some days that I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into. I trudge along through the day, moving from math to science to history to doing laundry to cooking dinner, all while thinking to myself that this was such a mistake. Surely one day I am going to need to GET AWAY from these children. I am going to need to go back to work where there are other adults to talk to and work that doesn’t require scrubbing toilets and washing dishes. And also where the other people in the building know better than to wipe boogers on their shirts.
And then I hear my daughter sweetly tell my son that he is her hero. I hear him ask her if she wants him to kiss her ouchies. I watch them play together so well, even though he is five years older than her and they are polar opposites. I watch them together knowing that they are so close because THEY ARE SO CLOSE all day long. They are together almost all day, every day.
Not only are my kids closer to each other now that we are homeschooling, but they are also closer to me and I’m closer to them. Some days being so close feels claustrophobic, but in the long run? I will never regret spending all this time with my children. I will never look back and say “Man, if only I’d spent a little less time bonding with my babies.”
I will, however, probably look in the mirror at the dent in my forehead some day twenty years down the road and think to myself “Why didn’t I bang my head on something a little SOFTER?”
[tags]kids, children, parents, parenting, home, homeschool, frustration, claustrophobic, work, effort[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by Meredith_Farmer, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
3 responses so far ↓
Dana // Apr 25, 2008 at 1:13 pm
We all have those days…periods even. But I think it is part of parenthood. After all, I KNOW there were days my mom had enough of us and we went to school.
But you are right. You seem to get those moments at just the right times to regain a little perspective.
Carol // Apr 25, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I’m hoping that all my head banging will smooth the skin and prevent wrinkles (also occasionally caused by homeschooling)
Debbie // Apr 28, 2008 at 8:13 am
I just had to laugh! Karly, your last line made me giggle at my desk. Thank you!
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