Mother's Day Out
Submitted by Sisu
I signed up both of my kids to attend a Mother's Day Out program this fall. It's a two-half-day-a-week pre-preschool for kids under 4 at a local church a few blocks away.
I hemmed and hawed for weeks about signing them up. I had a huge (and unwelcome) case of mommy guilt as I considered dropping my kids off for hours on end when I was perfectly able to take care of them myself. In fact, on the day I went to the church to sign them up, I sat in the parking lot for 10 minutes getting up the nerve to go inside and pay the registration fee.
But I did it. Now that it's done, I'm feeling exhilarated—free. I'm itching for school to start. Of course, I'll miss my kids (for at least five minutes), but I'm sitting here imagining all the things I'll be able to do. Things that I haven't done (or thought about) in almost three years:
- Take a shower without a toddler opening and closing the shower curtain the entire time.
- Go to the grocery store without worrying about whether my 2-year-old is climbing out of the cart.
- Go to the mall and actually try on clothes without a kid peeking under the dressing room door.
- Check my email without anyone banging on the keyboard.
- Go to the gym without getting paged by child care to change a diaper.
- Have lunch with my girlfriends without worrying about whether there's chicken nuggets on the menu.
The list is endless, and this fall I'll have two whole half days every week to check things off. On the first day of school, I'll probably shed a few obligatory tears as I drop my kids off—but I'll be smiling before I hit the parking lot.
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