Good Friends, Old Times and Non-Violence

When we were in Florida, there was an incident with my son and another child we did not know where my child got punched in the chest. The children were playing football and apparently the child that hit mine took the game rather seriously. Once he was hit, my child burst into tears and ran to tell me and his uncle who we were visiting at the time.

The incident spawned a big discussion about how you teach a 7-year-old to respond appropriately in contentious situations. I have always preached non-violence, and his uncle tried to explain that sometimes non-violence works, while other times you need to react. I thought we handled the situation well, particularly since he gave the child much more insight into manhood than I could.

Fast forward two months and a child calls my son a "Bobblehead" at school. What does my son do? He hauls off and hits the offender. I think there may have been some memory of the incident from the summer, I most definitely think that there was some repressed anger toward his father, and I think he had just had enough of this particular child.

The teacher saw the incident and called me. I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on what I should have done, and then I'll share what I did do. Here is some background you may want to know before you give me your opinion:

1. My son's birthday was the day before the incident. His father did not call or acknowledge the child's 8th birthday in anyway.

2. My son's initial reaction to everything is to cry. He got that from his mom. In this instance he did not cry until his teacher told him she had to call me.

3. He is the oldest of three children, the girls are 5 and 6.

4. The incident happened near the end of the school day.

5. One week earlier, the same child that called my son a bobblehead also told him that he should not support Barack Obama because Barack is proposing to put a $100 tax on toys for children.

The last one was irrelevant to hitting issue, but I couldn't help but mention it. :)
What would you do?

Summer's Out and School's In?

As my Chicago days were relaxing and theraputic, they were quick to liven on the morning of July 29. Here is a sample of the subject lines of emails I received that day:



1. "First Grade Move In Day"



2. "Second Grade Flag Football Team Information"



3. "Girls' Fall Soccer Registration Information"



4. "2008-09 Parent Volunteer Opportunities"



5. "Classmate's Birthday Party"



6. "Book Exchange for Elementary School Students"



7. "Student Health Forms Due NOW:



My chest started tightening, my lips were pursed, and I could not breathe. The anxiety and anticipation of the upcoming school year was coming, it was almost too much to bare. School supplies, school clothes, PE shoes, and more had me freaking out!



Somehow I managed to breathe and medidate my way out of that experience. I have gotten some things accomplished while on vacation, but the first two weeks back in Dallas are going to be pretty jam-packed. We had to go to the school today to turn in some forms...and guess what? The chest tightening started all over again.



Do you have back to school anxiety for your kids? How do you overcome it?

Heading Home

As my 6 week adventure has come to an end, the writing is not. I took some time off to visit more destinations, and have had more enlightening experiences. Tonight I am at my final stop and have gathered more knowledge about life lessons in the past 6 hours than possibly at all in the past 6 weeks...and I definitely garnered a lot in the 6 weeks. The bottom line is that this summer was AMAZING and I will be writing about it for weeks to come. For now, I need to get some rest...I'm hitting the road home in the morning.

This Was One of My Best Decisions

I have been in Chicago four weeks TODAY! I could not have asked for anything more. I got to spend time with my parents, I treated the city like I was tourist for the kids, and I really had to opportunity to get some much-needed rest.

Most importantly, I have regained a sense of myself and I have a handle on the ups and downs of life and how to handle them and "keep my yellow."

We are leaving Chicago in 6 days. From there, we drive to Florida. One week after that, we are back in Dallas. I plan to blog regularly from now until we leave Chi-town, but I am going to try to stay off the computer while we are in Tampa and Orlando. If anything, I expect that leg of the journey to be the most exciting, most energy-filled, and most noisy.

Once we're back in Dallas, I'll post some concluding thoughts on road-tripping...but hmmmmm, I wonder what I should write about next?

Have a great weekend!

Link Love to Other Road Tripping Bloggers

These blogs have fun tips and valuable information for road trippers this summer:


http://singleparents.about.com/b/2008/05/26/five-pitfalls-to-avoid-on-your-next-road-trip.htm

http://www.becentsable.net/2008/07/survivormom-surviving-road-trip-with.html

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I Finished Chapter One

Before I started writing this post, I read through all of my previous posts to see if I had mentioned that I am in the process of writing a book. Well, I hadn't. Then I realized that I have never blogged about the decision to "take a year off" from the world either. So here goes.

My decision to embark on a cross-country road trip this summer was the result of several things. I wanted to travel with the kids..affordably...and have the opportunity to work on my consulting business, this blog, and begin writing a book about an interesting irony I recently discovered.

Until this past May, I had a full-time (40 hr/ week) job outside of the home and I was the primary caregiver for my children. Their dad and I separated last December, and since then, his involvement with the kids has been less than desirable. This spring it seemed like all at once my world crashed. My boss was as understanding as she could be (which was very limited and NOT nearly what I needed her to be), I felt more pressure from the kids' schools to be even more of a supermom (as a way of compensating for the separation/divorce...yes they can make you feel really guilty), and for the first time in my life, my parenting was questioned by entities who should have been concerned about their own operations. (I know the last part was vague...that's a blog post for another day.)

One more thing...my birthday was in May...and ever since I turned 30 six years ago, I have been making some huge life decisions around that time. And this year was no different. In May, I decided that I needed a year off. I needed to work less in order to spend time with my kids more. I need to drop them off at school on time, I need to pick them up when the school day ends (not when afterschool care ends), and I needed to have our evening routine with homework, reading, math facts, dinner, and bedtime operate more smoothly than it did last year.

I needed to quit my job.

The irony of all of this is that as I realized that I desperately needed to be home more for the kids, I wasn't sure if I could afford it financially. It can be a challenge for dual-income families when one spouse stops working, but what does it mean for a single-parent family when the single parent stops working full-time? I didn't know, but I would soon find out, and live to write about it.

Enter the road trip to Chicago. Enter the time spent with my parents. Enter the creation of my consulting business. And enter the writing of the first chapter. My goal this summer is to write two chapters and pen the rest as the year progresses. My book is about the irony of it all, how it was the write thing for us, and how it ends.

Here's to the celebration of Chapter One! Wahooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!