This may be the very first year of “back-to-school” in which I am not dancing the bus stop jig (see “The Jig Is Up, “circa 2010.)
This is partially because, after 12 straight years of having elementary school aged children who took the school bus to school, I now have only middle and high schoolers. My two middle schoolers walk to school; the high school senior is now so cool he’s getting a ride with a friend with a car.
But it’s more than just not having a reason to toddle down the hill to the bus stop each morning. My lack of desire to kick my heels up because my kids are (finally) back in school comes from the experience of having older kids at home this summer, kids who really made themselves scarce (and the youngest one was completely gone – at camp – for a month.)
The day camp my kids attended (and worked at) earlier in the summer was walking distance from our house. So they didn’t need me to drive. They got themselves up, got themselves to camp, and got themselves home. They made their own lunches, ate breakfast on their own, and were basically self-sufficient.
And when my youngest took off for a full month at sleep away camp, the quiet time really began.