Childhood things I'm not gonna miss

Parent Cafe
1

<p>On the College Class of 2014 thread, we talk about the things we’re going to miss as our kids head off from college. But recently I’ve begun to think of some things I’m NOT going to miss. So instead of hijacking that thread (probably impossible anyway, it moves SO fast!) I thought I’d start a thread here and throw out some things that I’ll be glad to leave behind as my kids grow up:</p>

<p>School paperwork: Permission slips, volunteer forms, sign-ups to donate items for events, etc. </p>

<p>Fundraisers - PTA, Boy Scouts, etc. </p>

<p>Cub Scout Pack meetings. 50 elementary school boys with way too much energy, and parents who take the ceremonies, rules & rigamarole way too seriously. I say this as a proud parent of an Eagle Scout, BTW.</p>

<p>Going to the arts & crafts store to buy stuff for school projects - dioramas, posters, book-in-a-bag, make-a-board-game, mobiles, scale models, 3D maps, etc. I think the teachers are in cahoots with the arts & crafts stores! </p>

<p>CCD - signing up for it, driving to/from it. My husband taught for years, so at least I didn’t feel guilty about not teaching it.</p>

<p>Buying tickets for dance recitals and shows. Our shows ALWAYS had assigned ticketing (not general admission) and somehow the grandparents never understood that I needed to know a month in advance if they were coming in order to get decent seats. So I inevitably ended up buying - and paying for - too many tickets.</p>

<p>Having weekend plans blown up because someone’s baseball/softball schedule changed due to weather. And tournaments, when you know your first two games but after that it depends on if you win or not. We could be done by 1 on Sunday, or could be there till 8pm, who knows? </p>

<p>Anyone else?</p>

2

<p>My kids have been out of the house for quite a while now (youngest just graduated from college) but one of the things I don’t miss at all is putting a leftover in the fridge planning on having it for lunch the next day and finding it gone in the morning. I don’t miss having to go pick a kid up somewhere at 1:00 AM. I don’t miss waiting for kids to come home at night. I don’t miss fixing dinner for x number of people just to find out that plans have changed and they are going out for pizza.</p>

3

<p>Stepping on Legos with my bare feet in the middle of the night. :(</p>

4

<p>Still have one in HS, but don’t miss taking snacks to all of the soccer/baseball games.</p>

5

<p>All that arts and crafts stuff was actually one of my favorite things about the kids’ school years. My kids made so many great things - a papier mache Portugese man-of-war, a California Mission with a sundried tomato penne roof, a pioneer quilt, the list goes on. What I didn’t like was homework, in fact I hated homework. I used to feel that motherhood would be great fun were it not for homework.</p>

6

<p>I won’t miss tripping over multiple pairs of footwear that the D’s leave all over the house.</p>

7

<p>I now have my kitchen back! Having the hall bathroom, which also is used for guest, (who came up with that BRILLIANT idea anyway?) neat and clean on a daily basis. I will also not miss the shoe thing either.</p>

8

<p>The petrified pieces of pasta that are carelessly dropped under the stove burner where they stay until i fish them out.</p>

<p>The purses dropped in random places.</p>

<p>The car parked in the middle of the driveway so that I can’t fit mine on either side of it.</p>

<p>Not knowing if the dog was taken out or if someone is just SAYING that the dog was taken out. There is comfort in knowing that it will be up to me. (for me and the dog)</p>

9

<p>Having to man a booth at the school carnival</p>

<p>Last minute birthday party invitations (and last minute running to the store to buy a present)</p>

<p>Carpool lines</p>

10

<p>I don’t miss the multitude of childhood illnesses whether brief - 24 hour virus - or the simple cold that then progresses into an ear infection and a need for the doctor visit and antibiotics. Three children with chicken pox and, of course, not all at the same time. Chicken pox at our house lasted five - six weeks from onset til the last child finished up.</p>

11

<p>I won’t miss assignments that are really craft projects for a grade.</p>

12

<p>Standing in line at Target at 6 pm with a pair of black pants for a kid who has to go onstage with his jazz band at 6:30. He couldn’t tell me two days ago that his pants were now more like shorts???</p>

13

<p>Pathetic…but I do kind of miss all of the above…with the exception of the 1AM pick up and stepping on the lego. I have an only child so I did get less of the parenting years than those with 2+…clearly I need a mommy fix.</p>

14

<p>Video games and their paraphenalia (?sp -1) strewn across the family room.</p>

<p>Losing the Netflix movie sleeve and/or red envelope.</p>

15

<p>Lololu, I will not miss ANY of the “special clothing” requirements we have put up with over the years. There were they years they needed shirts of a specific color by grade for field day (note sent home from school only 3 days ahead of time, scrambling to find an orange shirt for D1…). And all the concert clothing requirements. Especially the “splash of color” (specific colors some years for some grades!) required for the spring concert. Can’t tell you how many hours were spent in Target studying the hair and scarf and belt options to fulfill this.</p>

16

<p>I think as bad as stepping on Legos…stepping on Barbie shoes in bare feet. Thankfully, Barbie moved out of our house ten years ago. Her pointy little landmines were replaced by the multiple pairs of shoes mentioned above!</p>

17

<p>Having to plan trips around the kids’ schedules and always having to go places at the most crowded and expensive times of year. In fact, it’s easier to travel both with and without them now that they are out of school than when they were at home!</p>

18

<p>Sticky everywhere.</p>

19

<p>^^^ That sounds like my son’s dorm room at the end of freshman year!</p>

20

<p>I hate projects which involve crafts, take up an inordinate amount of wasted time and money, and should be trashed at the end, but they took up so much time and money, you leave them sit in some corner until you do a massive cleaning years later and/or the kid has moved on so you can put it out for trash with less guilt.</p>

<p>These are nothing more than grading the art skills and patience of the mother. Please. I lack on both counts and have much better ways to spend my time.</p>