Balancing Act
Yeah! It’s spring break!
Staff writer
Oh the glorious days of spring break! As a parent of four school-age children, I have to say spring break is the saving grace of a very pressured family life in this day and age.
Algebra tests are done, presidential campaign speeches given, appropriately styled papers written, photography collections complete, and past-due assignments turned in. While students may think spring break is for them, it is really designed for concerned parents who think, feel, and walk with their children through every facet of their school life, whether they realize it or not.
Now that it is spring break, I have the glorious pleasure of sleeping in two more hours than usual. I do not have to get up at 6 a.m. to do farm chores, get everyone up, and fix breakfast, because I am on spring break. I only have to take care of myself before rushing off to work because my teen-agers have their own farm chore schedule worked out. Those not milking goats and feeding hay in the morning likely won’t get up until noon anyway … no need for breakfast.
Now that it is spring break, I often come home to children folding laundry, cooking supper, and sweeping the floor. How awesome is that!
Of course, this means that my husband and I have to put up with uproarious laughter in the back game room until the wee-hours of the morning, as all four of our children enjoy sibling bonding and rivalry around the Xbox and Wii stations. It is music to our ears however, to have the college boys home and to hear the high school and junior higher getting along.
Despite lack of sleep, spring break has become a time in our family to get many long-undone projects completed, inside and outside our home, because of the added muscle-power. Just having everyone home is motivation to rearrange the furniture, get the roof back on the back shed, and clean up the yard. I love spring break.
The only thing I do not like about spring break is that it is only one week long. There are so many more things to be done and so little time to do them. But never fear, summer is right around the corner.
It seems like just yesterday we were digging out from over a foot of snow. Today I am digging out from several feet of laundry in the back room … oh the joys of spring break.