First emotion when you realize kids almost home from school

So when you look at the clock and see that your kids will be home in x time, what do you think/feel? Excitement? Dread? Something in between? Do you think of all the stuff you didn't manage to do while they were out?
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"OMG she's soon there I wonder what she did today did she learn knew stuff did she have fun"
Laughing

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"It's all cultural, disagree respectfully", me

My kids start to arrive home at 1.05 pm. I always feel "oh no...."

Maybe if we Israelis had a longer school day and I actually had time to miss them I would be more happy when 1pm rolled round.

last year, stress. older dd did not have a great year, and came home in a terrible mood every day, which affected everyone else at home. she needed lots of time and attention at a really hard point in the day, bc everyone else was also hungry and tired.
this year BH it's been much better.

Executive Member Joined: Sep 24 2008 Posts: 253

I don't look forward to the mad rush to get supper, homework, showers done. My son doesn't come home until 5:15 but I still feel like I didn't get enough done.

Platinum Member Joined: Aug 01 2005 Posts: 17093

while he was in preschool, honestly - panic; the day endedd too soon (3:05 pm) and I had to run down 3 flights and stand outside in all kinds of weather waiting for the bus while my little one was jailed in his crib. now that he is BH in kitteh alef, the bus is at 3:55 and he comes up the stairs himself. So I look forward to his home coming, as my day is much longer and I dont have to rush down to catch a bus.
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Please no fighting and I hope they're in a good mood. Bl"ah, so far, so good!!! Wink

Posted: Mon, Nov 01 2010, 4:33 pm Post subject:

Mama Bear, they let him off the bus if you're not waiting there? In kitta aleph? What if you're not home?

Every time a child is killed in a bus accident en route to school or home, it makes me even more paranoid.

When I realize my kids are almost home, I anticipate their arrival. My kids laugh when they walk in a minute late and I ask where were you or when I hear a bus pass I can say "it's ruchy's bus". They ask how I know. I say bec I like when they leave, but like more when they return...
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Posted: Mon, Nov 01 2010, 5:27 pm Post subject:

Posted: Mon, Nov 01 2010, 5:29 pm Post subject:

Platinum Member Joined: Aug 01 2005 Posts: 17093

Yes, in kitteh alef you dont need to wait for the bus anymore. the first 2 weeks I waited to make sure he knew how to get off the bus safely and to go straight home. Then I became the ONLy kitteh alef mother to be at the bus - and then I had 2 days when I was absolutely exhausted and just couldnt make the walk back down. So I waited for him at the window - and that works perfectly well.

What do you mean if I'm not home? I *am* home. I make sure to be home. If for whatever reason I cannot be home on time, I tell a neighbor and she'll wait downstairs to tell him to go to her house. but it hasnt happened and hopefully wont happen.

the kitteh alef-bais-gimmel bus driver puts the kids down regardless of whether the mothers are home or not. Mothers dont wait downstairs anymore for the kitteh alef-bais-gimmel bus. by 4 p.m., everyone is back home, it's not like 3:00 when you can still be tied up on manhattan or something.

By the way, I still go to the bus in the morning; I'm still too nervous of the kids running onto the street when they see the bus; plus he won't always realize it's his bus, if I'm not there. (The bus stops in the middle of the block.)

Posted: Mon, Nov 01 2010, 5:39 pm Post subject:

I find that unbelievable. What changed in the few weeks since he went from kindergarten to kitta aleph? I wonder if it would be like that with my kid if I'd still be living in Williamsburg.

The bus stops in the middle of the block on the way home too?

Platinum Member Joined: Aug 01 2005 Posts: 17093

Well... I dont want to rub it in... but it's different when you have one Smile

.

Again, NO ONE waits for kitteh alef buses. At 4 p.m. I was the ONLY mother on the block waiting for the buses, girls' or boys'!!!

Posted: Mon, Nov 01 2010, 5:44 pm Post subject:

Platinum Member Joined: Aug 01 2005 Posts: 17093

Waht changed? he's five years old, not three or four. at some point you start growing up and becoming more independent!

yes, when the bus comes home it stops at the 2 ends of teh block. the driver waits to make sure that all the boys are safely on the sidewalk and walking towards their homes. I wait for him at the window and call down to him and he sees me. I watch as he comes up the stairs.

That's the way it works in kitteh alef. Most mothers have a preschool bus as well as a kitteh alef bus and it's not easy to go up and down 3 flights of stairs several times a day, which is why they dont wait for the buses. (by the way many of the kids wait for the morning buses alone, too. I still draw the line there. ther'es a kid ACROSS THE STREET who is younger than mine- he's only 4 1/2 - and he has to CROSS when the driver signals. My heart is in my throat every morning for him, I dont get how his mother lets him wait alone.)

Btw - you lived in an elevator building - and lived too high up to see the street clearly - so I can understand why you wouldnt feel comfortable letting him come off the bus alone. It's different when I have a clear, clear view of the street, and difficult steps to navigate. If I were still waiting for the afternoon bus I'd be walking these stairs about six times a day.

Executive Member Joined: Aug 30 2010 Posts: 418

I think it matters ware you live. I grew up in manhattan my mom or sitter waited till I was in about 4th grade. my son is in pre 1A I listen for the bus and run outside but a few times he got off the bus himself and came home. the bus stops right outside our door and the driver waits till he is in. I don't think its such a big deal.

and to answer the question I love when my kids come home. when I see it getting close to 3:00 I make a snack or fruit plate and clear a place for them on the dining room table to do hw. we usually just sit and chat for a good hour

Posted: Mon, Nov 01 2010, 5:52 pm Post subject:

Listen, I don't get it and probably never will. But hey, to each their own.

At times like this, I want to comment about people stopping to have children until they can learn to take adequate care of the ones they already have. Not going downstairs to a 5-year old's bus, in the city no less, because you have other children at home, is crazy. Any other reason used to justify themselves is a whole nother story, but this excuse is just crazy.

(I'm not talking about you personally. You cited other reasons. Smile

)