I’ve talked before of The Mommy Guilt, and it hits me at the weirdest times. So instead of allowing it to take me under, as it usually does, I’ve started creating a mental list of things that I “should” be doing for my kid. And then I try to do them, under circumstances that work for me.
We live a mere two miles away from Tony’s school. Across from Tony’s (preschool) is a neighborhood elementary school. I see parents walking their kids to school on a daily basis – or walking home from school – and it makes me hurt. After all, my kid is at preschool from 7:45 to 5:00 most days. THAT SUCKS. I hate that.
So some days, I walk to pick him up.
The weather is kind of awesome around our town now, and although the pollen is still insane, it’s a bit cooler and the rain is a bit more frequent. And I’ve been trying to exercise more, so this works out well.
It’s a fifteen minute walk TO the school. And usually about a forty-five minute walk home.
The first day I walked to school, the kids were playing outside. As I approached, I heard Tony say, “It IS! It IS my Momma! Momma! MOMMA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
We’re walking home today, I told him through the fence. It’s an ADVENTURE.
I turned to head inside and I heard him tell his friends, “I’m goin’ on an ADVENTURE. YESSSSS!”
When I came onto the playground to round him up, the teacher laughed. “Tony told me you lost your car again.”
.. I .. wait, what? Lost my car?
So every day now, when I pick him up, he always looks to see if I’ve got shorts and running shoes on or heels and a skirt. He knows that the former means we’ve got an adventure in front of us. We spend our walk home chatting. Sometimes he pretends he’s a Power Ranger with a found stick/sword. Sometimes we recite traffic safety rules. Sometimes we make up songs.
And it’s such a powerful reminder for me to S-L-O-W D-O-W-N. I am an efficiency-minded person. I move quickly, all the time. I walk briskly. He .. doesn’t. He lollygags behind, stopping to explore some moss or blow out a dandelion or examine the eleventy billionth rock we’ve passed. And it reminds me that it’s okay to stop and look around. Because, you know, sometimes it saves you from being run over by a car. And sometimes it sends a Power Ranger your way to defeat the evil Low Hanging Branch Monsters.
Even though it’s an hour I could spend cleaning or doing laundry or getting dinner ready, somehow it’s an hour that I never ever find myself regretting.
I am so freakin’ proud of you! That’s super awesome that you combined something healthy for yourself and old fashioned quality time with Tony. And!!! You are showing him that exercise is important and should be done naturally, less hamster on a treadmill like, I hope you have many many walks to come and I hope it’s a special thing for you both for a long time.
And? That guilt? Whoa…. She’s a nasty bitch. I try to remind myself that no tombstone ever read “and her laundry was always folded perfectly”… But, rather, “loving devoted mother” is something I’d like to be known for.
First – If I ever showed up in heels to pick up my kids they would DIE. They’d be like…WTF, Mom? What are you wearing?
Second – N and W’s school is a mile from my house. I kinda feel like crap that I’ve never walked it. I think I will this afternoon. We’ll have our own adventure walk, thanks to you.
I LOVE walking to and from school with my kiddo. I don’t get to do it nearly as much as I would like, because sometimes we have to be somewhere right after (i.e. my daughter’s pre-K start time conflicts with us walking on certain days) (This fall is going to be awesome because the excuses will be nil since they will be in the same school!)
But. You are right about the slowing down. and maybe I need to reconsider that extra 20 minutes it takes to walk.
cagey (Kelli Oliver George) wants you to read ..Literally Literary: Fifty Shades of “Meh”
I just love this post.
How in God’s name do you walk two miles in 15 minutes? Are you a super hero?
There’s a line in a song that i love: “Been running so sweaty my whole life, urgent for a finish line.” That’s me. Always in a hurry to get to some other place. Gotta touch my nose more, remember that life is what happens right here in front me. I can’t be that stay at home mom with my boys but we make time and that’s what counts. Thanks for giving us such a precious reminder of that.