One side effect of homeschooling is that your kids are generally...home. There are no school hours.
I know, you're probably looking at me thinking, "um, yeah, crazy lady. You knew that when you signed on, right? And if you didn't...are you sure you're capable of instruction?"
Yeah, I knew. I was a little hesitant at first, because one of the things I need to remain a quality human being is time alone. I like my me time. I might not even do anything with it, but I like it. Fortunately I have an amazing husband who gets this. Totally supports the hiring of a sitter a few hours a week - in addition to any date night time and makes the effort to give me a few "family free" hours on weekends too. For a homeschooling mom, I can't complain.
Anyway, I have this sitter. And I know I have a few hours a week to work with. But here's the thing. I don't want to "waste" those precious hours with boring things like dentist appointments and car services and errands. That's my time.
So I had to figure out what's sitter worthy, and what my daily companions can learn to deal with.
So far, it hasn't been too bad, because we have twelve hours a week that Reagan is in preschool, and as every parent of multiple kids knows, once you're down one, it's a cakewalk. Madison has pretty much been everywhere. The dentist, gynecologist, doctor, lab, car appointments, DMV, and every store known to man. So far my only hard no is a spa (where she's not allowed) and waxing (because anything beyond the eyebrows...no).
Don't get me wrong. I know there are places and times when you need to have some adult only guidelines. I'm not one of those moms who sanctimoniously states that if her kids aren't welcome, then she isn't welcome, because she can't imagine leaving them for a single moment. I'm the opposite. I've fallen in love with Smaland at IKEA, I love the gym only for their KidsZone, and I found a grocery store that has childcare. I make great use of the time that the girls are being taken care of by anyone else and I'm happy to hand them over to anyone that will have them. But for the regular stuff, when your kids are home, and your husband travels, you need to figure this stuff out.
And if they're coming with you, you need to make it easier on yourself.
So we snack before we go somewhere tedious. We use the bathroom before it will become an issue. We bring a bag with books and tablets and drawing stuff.
And I've taught them how to behave. I mean, they're kids, so they aren't perfect, and they are definitely still learning. But I've taught them about interrupting, and about when to sit quietly, and how to stay out of the way of people who aren't used to seeing kids in their office midday.
Because once it's your normal, there is nowhere they can't come.
Except the waxing place. Still a hard no.
