It's Almost HEREEEE!!! Back to School Fun!!

Pencils sharpened? Notebooks bought? Plenty of batteries on hand for the calculator? Why do I ask when you are clearly still enjoying the Summer? Because there’s no hiding from it –Like it or not -- BACK TO SCHOOL Time is nearing!! Personally, I always loved the first day of school. I remember playing school and planning what to wear weeks ahead of time! For me there was always Excitement in the Air at Back to School time! Cameras Flashing! Videos Rollin’! New Back Pack, Matching Lunchbox & sneakers! The Works!! And my favorite -- Beaming Smiles from my kids! Now I’m down to a senior in college and a daughter who’s a wonderful teacher herself but still humors me by sending her own first day back to school shot! 

Of course, these were mostly my feelings about Back to School, not always my kids who might have preferred enjoying a few more summer days sunning, staying up late and sleeping in! As they got older, they did dodge my video camera, but we always got that out the door, ready to go, first day of school photo that I’ll always cherish!!  Now just because it was a new school year, doesn’t mean it was going to be a perfect school year…of course I didn’t know that then! In those days, it all started out good but sometimes got a little CrAzY –at least at our house…And despite the Teacher and Mom’s efforts, CrAzY was how the night before a Test often seemed to be! Sorry to remind you of that part if you two are a survivor of helping your child study for a test but I promise you -- you are not alone! So now I ask you? Who’s afraid of a little MoMlife Truths? Not me and I hope not YOU!  I’ve hid MomLife Truths in The MoMmY-Go-RoUnD! So let me take you down Memory Lane where I promise to make you Laugh (and maybe wipe a few tears along the way!)! So Hang on to your Hats! Shop those Awesome Sales!! And Love your Kids EVEN on the Nights Before a Test!! Even when they have a blank look on their faces as you quiz them! Trust me -- it will all work out!! Two successful happy College grads and another Grad and Masters at the end of this year! So again Fear Not!! It's OnLy BaCK 2 ScHoOL!! Sooo Enjoy it!!

Excerpt from The MoMmY-Go-RoUnD’s Chapter 7: 8:00 p.m. "Mom, I have a test tomorrow."

Who knew that this would someday be a phrase that would strike terror in my heart? What's even more incredible is how making that statement somehow brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the child's heart....It’s like a transference of the responsibility for passing the test. Despite my many pleas over the years that we spread test preparation over at least two nights, my children seem to delight in an incredible sense of freedom (and forgetfulness) that first night and the prospect of jamming the studying of 25 pages of history, science, whatever into one teeny tiny evening....More interestingly is that somehow my children have gotten the crazy idea that if MOM memorizes the materials, they are guarantied an A+! No problem!! They must have this vision of me sitting in the desk beside them filling out the test and passing it over to them to put their name on. We’re a team, we’re family, she’s my Mom…Let me assure you, we’re close but NOT that close.

Did I torture my parents in this same way? I shudder to think. Of course, I can’t take full responsibility for this behavior. Having had the pleasure of reading my husband’s report cards when we first married (at which point his family must have believed it safe to bring them out of hiding….), my years of report cards reflecting the comment “too talkative” seem mild in comparison. As one teacher summed him up….if Steve required an effort to breathe, he would cease. Sounds to me like he enjoyed that same incredible sense of freedom which our kids now love, throughout the entire school year.

Now admittedly by having school age children, I have had the opportunity to re-learn all the things I blew off the first time around. And enjoy it too! Trust me, there is nothing more annoying to a child cramming for a test then to say things like….”Isn’t this interesting” or “I love history, don’t you?” All’s fair in love and tests. They come to me with open books and blank expressions on their faces. My feelings are that if they’re going to act like they never heard the test material before and put the burden on me to re-teach two weeks worth of lessons in one hour, then I reserve the right to be annoyingly cheerful and completely absorbed in the subject matter!
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Check out The MoMmY-Go-RoUnD and laugh with me through the rest of this chapter and many more! The MoMmY-Go-RoUnD where I get to share a little of the CrAzY, Lots of Love and Break that Motherhood Code Of Silence! Also Proud to say it’s the Winner of the 2016 Pacific Book Award for Best Parenting – Family Book and the 2016 Readers’ Favorite Bronze Winner! Also, if you can find a minute (I know that’s not easy for those of you who are parents! Maybe when you and your phone collapse after a day of school shopping!!), please check out my online profiles and 5 Star Reviews on the Independent Author Network, Reader’s Favorite, Seriously Reading where there’s a review and interview. The MoMmY-Go-RoUnD is available at The Whistlestop Bookshop and The Doylestown Bookshop, in store or online. Other Bookshops can order it too or ebooks/books are available online! Hope you’ll check it out and support your Independent Bookshops!