At some point during their high school years, many kids find themselves–for the first time ever–in need of a calendar to keep track of their schedule.
One day you're spending hours playing Minecraft or hanging out with your friends or whatever, and the next you have this long list of responsibilities and commitments.
My son Jack has reached that point this school year. The combination of COVID and unemployment means that I'm often the one to ensure he gets every place he needs to go. (For years with the other kids this responsibility fell on Terry, so I'm fine carting the boy around town.)
This spring, for example, a typical day for Jack looks like this:
7:55AM: I take him to school.
8:00AM-2:18PM: He's in school.
2:18PM: He gets picked up from school and brought home.
2:30PM: He's back at school for track practice (yes, it would probably be easier for him to just take his track stuff to school and change there, but we live very close, so...he gets a quick trip home)
3:30PM: I pick him up from track practice and take him back home.
3:45PM: He changes into his Chick-Fil-A uniform and I drive him to work.
7:00PM: I pick him up from Chick-Fil-A and take him home.
7:15PM: He's back home, where he immediately throws his work clothes into the washer, goes upstairs, and either chills out for the first time that day if he can, or he does homework.
NEXT DAY: Repeat.
All of us have gone through this process at some point in our lives. It's not that big a deal in the long run, but it is something to which you have to learn to adjust.
Until Jack turns 16 next winter and gets his own car, his mom and dad will be the ones making sure he gets from place to place.
Considering he's the baby of the family, I think I can live with that for another nine months.
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