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academic parenting
Oct. 21st, 2016 10:07 pmThe worst part about school? School holidays...which OF COURSE do not match up with academic holidays. When Gwen was at nursery, nursery was open every day that the university was open, with the exception of the first May bank holiday (I never understood why, of the two May bank holidays, academic staff, including nursery staff, got both of them, off, but faculty ONLY GOT ONE OF THEM. Plz explain to me how is fair?), so we didn't have to worry about whether it was term time or out of term time.
School, however, has this dreaded week called half-term. Or in the case of the Choristers, a dreaded week and a half.
I failed at adulting when it came to advanced plans, and about two weeks in advance of it found me texting the rest of the moms in Gwen's class going "so....what exactly do you guys do for child care during half term?" Of course, most of them either have at least one stay-at-home parent or don't live in Durham so their options don't apply. But one of them is AMAZING, and said "I could take Gwen Tuesday or Wednesday for the day, if you want. Or, I could do both days and she could spend the night." And then invited the third girl in the class over, so for about two weeks now Gwen has been SO EXCITED about the prospect of having a "girl's night out" with T. and N. It'll be her first sleep-over, despite the fact she's been asking for one for six months or so now.
But that still left five days.
Gwen's passport expires in December, which means we need to get it renewed before we go to the US for Christmas, which means a trip to London, which means taking her out of school for a day -- unless we could do it during half-term. But given MY teaching schedule, we couldn't find any day that I was free from teaching or could reliably be sure I'd be back in time for an afternoon class. So in the end, Joel picked Gwen up when school let out on Wednesday, and the two of them went down that evening for a Thursday morning appointment. That took up all day, and also meant I didn't have to figure out how to get her from school at 15:15 when it was the day of the first Board of Studies meeting of term, which generally lasts from 14:00-17:00.
Another mother texted me that St. Oswald's (another school in town) runs a holiday club that her two children go to, one in Gwen's class and one in an older class whom Gwen has made friends with. I sent them an email, with no response, and finally called them about a week in advance. They could take her Monday, Thursday, and Friday.
So that left today, when I had Latin reading group in the morning, a tutorial in the afternoon, and then a meeting with a student. Normally, for one tutorial, I'd bite the bullet and bring her with, but this one was the first of term, which has a somewhat different dynamic. So I sent out an email to three of my colleagues -- one who is a mother, one who shares the office next to mine, and one who is the aunt of one of Gwen's best friends whom I happened to be scheduled to babysit Wednesday night... -- and thankfully "Auntie Liz" said Gwen could spend the hour in her office.
So today, Gwen played in my office for about an hour, and then watched CBeebies with the headphones on for 1.5 hours while I skyped into reading group; then we had lunch at the pub together (chips and beans, mushy peas, and blackcurrant cordial); then I settled her in Liz's office chair with headphones and my laptop and 101 Dalmations on youtube. Apparently she was good company, and she then happily colored on my whiteboard for another hour until my student came, at which time I set her up with the remainder of the movie.
By the time my student left, it was about 15:30 and the most appropriate thing to do was go and meet Thomas and Gemma at the pub. Because if there is one thing I have won at in terms of parenting, it is having trained my child to entertain herself while I drink beer. She adores Thomas, and loves seeing Gemma when she can, and while I had a pint and a half she drank another glass of blackcurrant (with a bendy straw!) and didn't even tease for more when she was done with it. Instead, she sat nicely with us for awhile, and then ended up taking my phone over to another table and sat by herself, quietly, playing games. When she grew bored with that, she took her stuffed animals to a couch and lay down to "rest", and for a moment I almost thought she'd actually fallen asleep. (And indeed she was tired enough that I promised to carry her part of the way home.)
You do what you gotta do...
School, however, has this dreaded week called half-term. Or in the case of the Choristers, a dreaded week and a half.
I failed at adulting when it came to advanced plans, and about two weeks in advance of it found me texting the rest of the moms in Gwen's class going "so....what exactly do you guys do for child care during half term?" Of course, most of them either have at least one stay-at-home parent or don't live in Durham so their options don't apply. But one of them is AMAZING, and said "I could take Gwen Tuesday or Wednesday for the day, if you want. Or, I could do both days and she could spend the night." And then invited the third girl in the class over, so for about two weeks now Gwen has been SO EXCITED about the prospect of having a "girl's night out" with T. and N. It'll be her first sleep-over, despite the fact she's been asking for one for six months or so now.
But that still left five days.
Gwen's passport expires in December, which means we need to get it renewed before we go to the US for Christmas, which means a trip to London, which means taking her out of school for a day -- unless we could do it during half-term. But given MY teaching schedule, we couldn't find any day that I was free from teaching or could reliably be sure I'd be back in time for an afternoon class. So in the end, Joel picked Gwen up when school let out on Wednesday, and the two of them went down that evening for a Thursday morning appointment. That took up all day, and also meant I didn't have to figure out how to get her from school at 15:15 when it was the day of the first Board of Studies meeting of term, which generally lasts from 14:00-17:00.
Another mother texted me that St. Oswald's (another school in town) runs a holiday club that her two children go to, one in Gwen's class and one in an older class whom Gwen has made friends with. I sent them an email, with no response, and finally called them about a week in advance. They could take her Monday, Thursday, and Friday.
So that left today, when I had Latin reading group in the morning, a tutorial in the afternoon, and then a meeting with a student. Normally, for one tutorial, I'd bite the bullet and bring her with, but this one was the first of term, which has a somewhat different dynamic. So I sent out an email to three of my colleagues -- one who is a mother, one who shares the office next to mine, and one who is the aunt of one of Gwen's best friends whom I happened to be scheduled to babysit Wednesday night... -- and thankfully "Auntie Liz" said Gwen could spend the hour in her office.
So today, Gwen played in my office for about an hour, and then watched CBeebies with the headphones on for 1.5 hours while I skyped into reading group; then we had lunch at the pub together (chips and beans, mushy peas, and blackcurrant cordial); then I settled her in Liz's office chair with headphones and my laptop and 101 Dalmations on youtube. Apparently she was good company, and she then happily colored on my whiteboard for another hour until my student came, at which time I set her up with the remainder of the movie.
By the time my student left, it was about 15:30 and the most appropriate thing to do was go and meet Thomas and Gemma at the pub. Because if there is one thing I have won at in terms of parenting, it is having trained my child to entertain herself while I drink beer. She adores Thomas, and loves seeing Gemma when she can, and while I had a pint and a half she drank another glass of blackcurrant (with a bendy straw!) and didn't even tease for more when she was done with it. Instead, she sat nicely with us for awhile, and then ended up taking my phone over to another table and sat by herself, quietly, playing games. When she grew bored with that, she took her stuffed animals to a couch and lay down to "rest", and for a moment I almost thought she'd actually fallen asleep. (And indeed she was tired enough that I promised to carry her part of the way home.)
You do what you gotta do...
