Ah…the anxiety is building and there’s electricity in the air. Back to School is one week away.

The kids don’t always put a voice to their feelings. I notice the subtle changes especially when they are driving me “nuts”! Bickering and restlessness have doubled here. The same thing happens as Christmas approaches too.

Certainly I enjoy the BIG kids around. They are extra hands and eyes at day care. Yet I am ready for some schedules and so are the kids. Schedules have a calming effect on us all.

Some people are schedule MAD, though. I like some spontaneity in my day or working with kids would make me crazy. Which makes me think of a funny tee-shirt that I saw,: “If you expect the unexpected then doesn’t the unexpected become expected?”

Everyone is different therefore every kid is different. I find some kids utterly lost and unhappy without a schedule. Others roll with every activity and carry on. How I try to be scheduled! Seems my attention span has been diminished to that of a two-year old sometimes. I love the days like the one where we discovered a honeybee swarm in the backyard. We were literally buzzing all day and lunch came around 1:30 instead of noon.

Once the city was doing some road work and putting in new drainage across the street. Backhoes, jack hammers and a huge cement mixer kept our attention all day! By the way, that cement mixer was expertly driven by a woman. WOW! That was something that I am glad that we witnessed.

There are learning experiences everywhere. So schedules are good and necessary, but never underestimate the power of being spontaneous. Heck, we survived a late lunch!