This is an awfully long job

Parent Cafe
21

<p>I hear you. The only problem with parenting is the fact that it is so relentless. You never get a break, you never get caught up. And then it’s over. Well, at least the physical part of it. I can’t imagine that the emotional part ever ends. The best part is that you’re not supposed to admit it. Ha!!</p>

<p>We’re counting down the days until D3 is off to college (just under 3 years). People keep asking me “What are you going to do with yourselves when you have an empty nest?” Holy Cow!! I’ve got some plans. DH and I are going to camping in the fall. Just the two of us - right in the middle of soccer season and marching band. Perhaps mid-October! I’m going to fall asleep in my bed instead of the living room sofa while waiting for the kids to get home. I am going to have sauteed mushrooms without anyone making gagging faces at the dinner table. I am going to schedule a fabulous vacation to Hawaii in March or April. Not during spring break. I am going to use the DVR to record shows that I would like to watch, not endless reruns of America’s Next Top Model or The Simpsons. I am going to go to the movies on Tuesday (discount) night and not even worry that it’s a school night!</p>

<p>But until I reach that fantasy land, I will dutifully attend parent meetings, volunteer to chaperone every event that the kids are in, schlep carloads of stuff to the dorms in the fall and back home again in the spring, host “girls night” sleepovers, and step over the piles of dirty laundry. (Ugh).</p>

22

<p>I’m tired too. And if you post that you are happy they are growing up, someone posts back you are happy to get rid of your kids!</p>

<p>I was supermom for 27 years and yes, I’m tired.</p>

23

<p>Tired? I feel like I’ve been on a transatlantic flight with a LOT of turbulence for the past five years. Daughter is 18 now and the plane has still not landed! Give me a colicky infant any day over an out of control teen. </p>

<p>My 16 yo son has been a breeze to parent except the day he totalled the car :open_mouth: (no one was hurt thank goodness).</p>

24

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<p>This reminds me of a gem that I have borrowed from my m-i-l. She had the best answer for people who would ask this… “Anything I want!”</p>

25

<p>As a mom of #3 and last child starting Sr year, I hear you. I keep thinking “Didn’t we do this application/NMSF/AP/band uniform/parking sticker/whatever already?” Yes, I come home from my school and I’m bushed before I even ask her about her day.
But there is that easy, sweet feeling with the last one. If you goof up this time it doesn’t fall back on any more siblings!
Years ago I overheard my mother (in anguish over my brother’s then-latest upheaval) ask her mother “At what age were you finally able to quit worrying about us kids?” Grandma cocked one eyebrow and said “What makes you think I have?”</p>

26

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<p>:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: </p>

<p>How… :eek:</p>