When Your Son's Greatest Aspiration is to be a Hobo

My youngest three kids get out of school a couple hours before I get home from work. I’d been having Austin watch them after school while Savannah is at water polo practice. However, Austin’s idea of watching them and mine were a little different in that Austin didn’t actually watch them. Or maybe he did. Watch them make messes, that is. I finally got tired of coming home to Austin asleep on the couch while the little ones played this game called, “Let’s move every item in the house into another room for no apparent reason”. (Thanks, Ilene, for the name of that game. It’s very fitting!)

I signed my little ones up for the after-school program last week. They weren’t happy with the idea and to tell the truth, neither was I. I hate that they have to stick around there for another couple hours after they finish their school day and I hate the idea of having to pay for childcare when I don’t make all that much to begin with, but I finally realized that I hated coming home to a disaster even more. Austin was assigned the task of walking to town and filling out applications for an afterschool job since the whole babysitting thing just wasn’t panning out.

Want to know how many applications Austin filled out last week? Any guesses? Apparently, getting a job doesn’t mesh with his whole ‘I want to be a hobo’ plan. This week, he was given an ultimatum – get a stinkin’ job or spend your afternoons cleaning the house and getting dinner started.  If you don’t, your computer is mine! I’m pretty sure I’ll be acquiring another computer by Friday.

On the bright side, my youngest three are loving the after-school program. In fact, yesterday they complained that I’ve been picking them up too early. (I rush over there the second I get out of work.) They asked me to please let them stay longer. I’m thinking about staying after school to work out for a bit before going to get them. It would be nice to have some time to myself to decompress after work, especially if I can get my mind off what I should be doing and drop the guilt of spending some much needed time on my very neglected self.

The thing I have dreaded the most – sticking my kids in the care of someone else, may turn out all right afterall.