We are several weeks into kindergarten now, and while my daughter is flourishing, making friends, improving on her writing and reading, there is one thing that I utterly despise: morning drop-off.
Every morning, it’s a mad dash to get a thousand things accomplished within the span of an hour and a half. There’s lunch to be prepared, water bottles to be prepped, bottles to be made, babies to be fed, big kids to wake, drag out of bed and dress, hair to fight, and so much more.
And that’s just before we leave the house.
On the drive to school, there are fights over music, screaming babies, last-minute pleas to please eat some of your breakfast that you brought in the car because we didn’t have time to eat at home, and then there’s the traffic.
It’s every man and woman for themselves when I have a kid to get to school and no time to waste. Every second counts. I need to properly time all traffic lights, make sure I stay ahead of all the buses and heavy equipment, and have no time to spare.
I hate to admit it, but I am not very courteous on school mornings. My morning is carefully planned to the minute so that we aren’t late. So I don’t let out the person waiting from the nearby breakfast restaurant or the person at the gas station. This ride isn’t stopping if we don’t have to!
And when we finally pull into the school, the wait isn’t over yet. It’s an endless line for our turn to drop-off. I am sweating bullets, looking at the clock, praying we make it in time. I don’t smile at the car waiting next to us, and I don’t laugh or small talk with the staff waiting to walk my daughter in. Instead, I anxiously try to scrub the breakfast off my daughter’s face and double/triple check I haven’t left anything at home. All this while my 10-month-old screams from the back.
While the worst part of my day is morning drop-off, my favorite is that sweet moment when I drive off, knowing she made it on time, and the rush is over…now I can be normal again.
However, the worst thing is when the car that was behind me the whole way to school saw me driving like a mad man, switching lanes, and not letting cars over, pulls in behind me in the drop-off lane, then also gets behind me on the way home.
That car knows the truth. And I am embarrassed by it.
The sweet drop-off staff know the truth too. They see me dressed in sweats with no make-up on as I am giving my daughter an old fashioned spit shine to get the peanut butter off her face.
These people have seen the worst of me, and I don’t like it. I don’t enjoy the stress of the morning and the sheer panic of being late to school. It seems I have some past trauma of being late to school as a child, and one of my biggest fears is my daughter being late to school. Will a truancy office automatically show up at my door? Will this go on her permanent record?!
I despise morning drop-off me. Now I know, I could always get up earlier, set my alarm for an hour early, but I have a baby going through a sleep regression and a full-time job waiting for me at home, so that’s easier said than done.
I honestly don’t know how things will get better for a while, but as the school years go on, I’m sure my oldest will do more for herself while my youngest will start sleeping better and behaving better in the car.
