Can we all just admit it: As far as parenting goes – June is one of those months that just takes it out of you – on every level?
Especially if your children are school going age.
Because here is the thing: Yes, it is almost summer holidays and the end (of the school year) is in sight – so close we can almost smell the salt water and beachy air and iced coffees of summer. But to get there, you have to live through June first – and boy, does this month test you in all sorts of ways.
For starters, I think come June, we are all just exhausted. Tired from the daily grind, from school bags and lunchboxes and homework and hectic mornings and afternoons where you barely have time to get dinner on the table before you have to rush out to make football or ballet or piano. Tired from the mountains of laundry that hockey and rugby and gymnastics inevitably yields, tired from arguing over homework and projects and time spent in front of screens. June just has a way of flooring us with just how intense this past school year has been, and although we know the sweet relief of summer holiday is just around the corner, we still have to power through these weeks ahead to get there.
Another thing that June is always full of is 'end of year' things. You know – the end of year ballet show, the end of year piano concert, the end of year gymnastic display, the end of year taekwando tournament. There are so many 'end of year' things, you start feeling like it's all going to be the end of your sanity. And to top it off, as mums, rest assured that you are also rasing around to get cards and presents for all these teachers and instructors and tutors to gift them with at the varies 'end of year' things. You know, because you don't have enough on your plate as it is..
Then there is, of course, the varies school fetes, the school teacher collections, the bake sales, the parent's nights out (because, you know, you got to try to be at least a little bit sociable before it all breaks for summer), the playdates (because "they won't see each other all summer"). And as if your calendar isn't already heaving with things you have to attend or shop for or give money to or organize, you can be pretty certain there will also be a few birthday parties thrown into the mix (for all the kids whose birthday fall in July or August when everyone is away, and so those parties, of course, need to be squeezed into June too).
Breathe, mama. You are almost there.
The thing is, though, and this might be the clincher – the thing that really tend to send us over the edge when it comes to June.. It is the month that more so than any other month reminds us just how fast our childrens' childhood is going by.
June is the end of another school year.
It will make you stop and wonder how the heck you got here, and wasn't it just September and the start of term.
June means the end of whatever class they are in now, and, after the brief brek that is summer, the start of yet another class, another school year.
As mums we realise, that little by little, they are growing up and growing older. And while it is amazing to watch our children develop and grow, can we all just admit it is also so heartbreakingly sad in another way.. Knowing that the days when they are so fully ours are limited..
And so if you are a mum that all this sounds so familiar too this June, know that we are all in the same boat. That I am thinking of you. And if you know other mums who this apply to, let them know you care and are there for them. Because June is a tough one – for all of us. But there is comfort in numbers, in knowing we are in it together. And in the meantime, there is always (iced) coffee. Lots and lots and lots of coffee.
