Dear Blake,

Some of my friends think I’m weird, but I really, really love having my kids home from school. Summers and school breaks are the best! I even didn’t mind the COVID virtual school situation, which I know makes me a freak, but I guess I’m a freak then.

Now that my five kids started the new school year, I’m having a hard time adjusting, even more so than the usual start of the school year blues I always get. When the bus picked them up the first day of school, all the other parents were celebrating. I smiled along with them, but really felt like crying.

While the kids are at school I do some freelance medical transcribing a few hours a week for the family practice where I worked before staying home fulltime, so it isn’t like I have nothing to do all day.

I can’t seem to get past missing them so much during the day, after they go off to school. Am I nuts?

Signed, Jessica
Detroit, Michigan

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Dear Jessica,

I do not think you’re nuts, because your kids are so young. By the time they are in their mid teens, you’ll be wishing that school went for at least 16 hours per day. Here are some other things you should be expecting when they get to high school. Expect them to experiment with drugs. Do not be surprised at that point, if they wander aimlessly through your house, wearing empty expressions, as a lot of you expensive personal come up missing. Expect them to challenge you on every decision you make, and hopefully by that time, you’ll be used to them calling you “stupid”. If you have any daughters, start asking questions if every they go with you to Walmart, they want to try on stretch pants and maternity tops. And lastly, this suggestion. Start locking your bedroom door at night, if your kids happen to know some private details about your living will, and they keep insisting that you are under insured and want the policy payout doubled… if not tripled. I hope this helps.

Blake