Domestic Psychology

hiding out

// May 26th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // blogging, me, mental health, parenting, summer

I have no personal space. I thought about hiding in our bedroom closet until I realized that it is filled with everyone’s stuff but mine. It’s not fair to hide in someone else’s clothes. You would think the bathroom would be a safe place for privacy, but you’d be wrong. Even the newest 4-y-o picks the bathroom lock and stomps in to demand whatever it is he thinks he needs at that moment. My first reaction to Color Guard practice not disappearing from my carpool duties for the summer was disappointment. Then, I decided to claim the one hour practices as MY time. I might sit in Starbucks and listen to the vitamin salesman trying to sell his wares. I might turn on the ipod and do some people watching at the park. Maybe I’ll put the seat back in the car and sleep in the sticky, southern summer heat. Mostly, I will sit with my low-tech (not by choice) pen and paper writing posts or working on the project I am doing for the middle school PTO. I will only be dropping off and going home during the three weeks of all day, every day practices, but that’s okay. I’m still going to get more me time this summer than I have had since I became a parent. Anyone want to place bets on how long this lasts before the rest of the family declares mutiny on my selfishness?

Wednesdays good/bad

// March 4th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // me, parenting, school, television, travel

Bad Wednesdays:
Drive to preschool.
Drive home.
Drive to high school.
Drive home.
Drive to middle school.
Drive home.

Good Wednesdays:
LOST

Great Wednesdays:
Everyone is FINALLY back on the island!

Why I don’t choose the music for carpool

// October 1st, 2008 // No Comments » // me, music, teenagers

My iPod was plugged in the car radio when the girls got in the car.
Sarah: “Why are we listening to a car commercial?”
Me: “This was a song before it was a commercial.”
Sarah: “Well, it’s just a commercial now.”
Me: “Fine. Skip to the next song.”
Sarah clicked the arrow so that the random could do its’ thing.
Other teenage girl in car: “Hey! This song is a commercial too.”
I turned the radio to Flight 26 and became invisible.

Dear Sarah,

// September 29th, 2008 // No Comments » // mail, parenting, teenagers

Dear healthy, able-bodied, teenage daughter,

If you want to go to the mall after school, please put one foot in front of the other and get yourself there instead of waiting until I drive all the way over to the school and asking for a ride to the mall.

Kthxbai.
Mom

sick mom quiz

// September 4th, 2008 // 6 Comments » // me, parenting, teenagers

If I do the carpool thing in slippers and jammies, will I:
a. have car problems
b. have teachers and/or parents wave me out for a chat
c. cause my 15-y-o embarrassment that results in her seeking a legal change of name, school transfer and minor emancipation
d. all of the above

carpool. ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

// June 23rd, 2008 // 1 Comment » // people, school

I will miss many things about Kindergarten, but carpool is not one of them. If you get there half an hour early, there will still be two cars in line ahead of you. If you get there five minutes before the bell, you will be in line a block away from the school. If you leave the car running, you are destroying the environment. Turn the engine off and you freeze or melt. It interrupts baby nap time as evidenced by the tiny wails of misery coming from the other cars. Toddlers express their frustration at having to be strapped into a non-moving vehicle. Nobody likes carpool. It works as efficiently as possible because everyone follows the rules. Well, almost everyone. We have one parent at our elementary school who jumps to the front of the line and gets out of their car to claim their child the minute they arrive instead of waiting in their cars in the line like everyone else. This parent is not a doctor, nurse, police officer or fire fighter. If it it was, everyone would understand the inability to wait. This parent is one of the people who ended up on Gilligan’s island. You know the song, “With Gilligan, the Skipper too, the millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the professor and Mary Ann, here on Gilligan’s Isle.” This parent has the kind of job that would allow them to show up two hours late for a meeting and people would all smile and claim that the person was right on time. There are parents and grandparents in the carpool line who are using their entire lunch hour to pick their child up and drop them off somewhere before they rush back to work. They follow the rules and wait their turn. Why couldn’t this parent? I know that the impatient parent was aware that they were annoying people. I watched other parents giving this person the stink eye day after day. At class parties and on field trips, this person’s carpool behavior ALWAYS came up in discussions. Ironically, this person is thought of very highly thought of in our community. Anyone in their neighborhood would have carpooled with them. They just aren’t making any friends in the carpool line. Does this parent not realize that they are setting a bad example for their own child? I am thrilled that I won’t have elementary school carpool next year. Hopefully, the impatient parent will have gained patience over the summer.