Well-being week is killin’ my well-being

Featured image courtesy of Thomas Vaclavek: https://www.thomasvaclavek.com/

Okay maybe that’s a tad dramatic, but there’s no better way to make a parent feel like they are dropping the ball than to pack several school-wide activities into a single week. The goddesses already have a lot of extra-curricular activities. They all have jiu-jitsu twice a week. The big two have swimming lessons once a week. And the eldest has music lessons and band practice on top of that. Good thing I don’t have any hobbies of my own outside the house because I just wouldn’t make it.

Well-being week entails an in-school activity every day, some which require parental effort and some that don’t, and comes with “secret friend” missions. Every child gets assigned a secret friend, and they must do three nice things for that person over the course of the week. On Friday the kids will try to guess who their secret friend was and all will be reviled. This is tricky. Kids can’t go into the classrooms to plant gifts on each other’s desks when teachers aren’t there. They’re not allowed to share food (thank god! Though some parents still send lollies,) and can’t give a store-bought gift. I see why that rule is in place, but in the past my kids have been given secret friends they didn’t like and didn’t want to do anything for. I was able to convince them to at least tuck a hatchimal into their desk-trays, but that wasn’t allowed and so those poor kids got no secret friend experience at all.

Sometimes the goddesses have the motivation and the time to spend all afternoon crafting something for their secret friend, and sometimes we’re super busy. How are we supposed to fit all that in?

This well-being week they have a high-tea, so need some fancy dress up things for recess, nicer-than average food packed in their lunch boxes, and some parents are sending picnic rugs too. Later in the week they have a dress-up day, so I’ve got three costumes to make and under a week to do it. I’ll need to make them, too, there’s no time to buy online. And I’m like, yo, what about MY well-being?

Added joy: Well-being week happens one week out of every term, so I’ve got three more of these throughout the year to look forward to.

Is this great for the kids? Probably. It makes school less boring. It teaches them good values. Makes them excited to go to school (but also brings out the fear of being different). They often have a big dance-off at school which is wonderful after all that sitting. It’s playful, which is necessary after all the serious learning. But if you’re feeling it’s not great for you as a parent… solidarity! It’s not great for me either. And yet I refuse to be the parent who doesn’t help them take advantage of these activities. So I get up a little earlier and let them raid my jewellery box for their tea party. And I pull my dusty sewing crap out of storage, and tonight Dear Heart and I will sew together, and it will be almost like a date. This is it. This is where life is at. And though I fall exhusted and sore into bed every night, I wouldn’t have it any other way.*

*Well, I might spread out some of those activities because we don’t actually need all that shit in one week. But you get the gist. 😉

Miriam Cumming writes fantasy novels and crafts spells. If you want to keep up with her, the best place to do that is Instagram. This bio would be longer, but costumes don’t make themselves.