Are you missing the school run?
Keith Grinsted
IKIGAI Coach – discover your Purpose – Passion - Vocation ? Business Blogger – I create engaging content for your business ? Articles, E-books, blogs ? Keynote Speaker on Workplace Wellbeing ? Founder: Goodbye Lonely
Are you missing the school run?
I can honestly say I’m missing the daily school run.
Yes, really!
Well, in truth I’m missing that daily structure to the weekday.
Getting to my daughter’s at 07:25 to make sure she's up.
Leaving by 07:50 for the half hour journey to school. Although on a ‘bad traffic’ morning it can take up to an hour!
Dropping her off at school around 08:30.
Then heading to the nearest coffee store, usually Starbucks, for my welcome first coffee of the day reward!
What’s your school run reward? Coffee with friends? A bit of retail therapy? A visit to the gym? I’m sure everyone has something they do to de-stress from the school run.
As for myself, with 2 daughters aged 17 and 20 I’ve been juggling the school run with fulltime, part-time, and freelance roles since the eldest was 4 years old!
16 years of morning and afternoon commitments while attempting to fit around a job. Or rather trying to fit the job around the school run.
I’ll bet you have experience too of fitting your life around the school run?
And, of course, there are all the after school clubs:
Swimming / Netball / football / cricket / gymnastics / trampolining / cubs / guides / scouts / it just goes on forever!
My girls were in to netball, so it was training Tuesday evening, matches Thursday evening and Saturday morning! All of them at least a half hour journey away.
You know there are those surveys every now and again that work out how much our kids cost us. I wonder if they ever work out how many miles we drive taking them to and from school and all their other activities?
I don’t know about you but It’s never ending. Now they are older its visits to the nail bar and the hairdressers!
But, do you know what?
During school holidays I miss the structure of the school run!
In theory I should be able to get more done.
But it doesn’t seem to work that way!
It’s as if it takes me longer to fire up my brain and get it fully functioning each day!
Then, at the end of the day there is no formal shut-off time!
How do you cope with unstructured school holiday days?
Do you have other stuff that takes its place?
Do you have strategies to put some structure back in your day?
Or do you just drift along and lose some of those hours?
I’m at that stage where, in a few months, when younger daughter passes her driving test and starts to drive herself to and from school, 16/17 years of school run structure will disappear from my life forever!
How should I deal with that?
There must be thousands of parents every year going through the same challenge.
How do you deal with it?
What are your coping strategies?
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6 年Thank you for posting this. Whilst the school run can be tiring, because it goes along with all of the after school activities as well, it is the thing that gives structure to my day. I feel lost in the long summer holidays. I’m fourteen years in with another nine to go. I’d love to know how others arrange their days when the kids are off.