Today is the last day of spring break for my kids. Tomorrow will make this upside-down bizarro world even more crazy than it’s already been.

So many times I’ve thought to myself, “I’m giving in! I’m not doing this! Come Monday when it starts up again, I’m opting out!”

But a very wise friend gave me the sage-iest piece of sage advice that was ringing in my head when I did my: wake up / go to the bathroom / check on my kids / scare the hell out of my oldest because I was hovering and staring at him like a psycho routine.

She said, and I’m paraphrasing slightly:

“I think it’s really hard for people to get out of their own mindset. It’s almost impossible to calm someone else’s anxieties.

I’m convinced that a lot of adults aren’t self-aware enough to realize what they are experiencing.

People don’t really take the time to process and live their feelings because they over schedule and over fill their existence so they don’t have to.

Now that everything is superficially quiet, people are forced to deal with residual demons of the past and impending fear and anxiety for the future.”

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 Holy. Shit. 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

The way this pertains to me is because I was ready to write a blog about why ALL people should just let their kids have fun during this pandemic and let them off the hook with schoolwork because that’s what they need during this weird, terrible time.

For the Petti children, that could be true, because other than playing with their friends when they go outside, and not going to school, things aren’t very different for them and they don’t seem stressed out at all. I include the word “seem” because my youngest has been asking for extra hugs lately and my middle does express how much he misses his friends; so there’s probably underlying tensions mounting that just haven’t bubbled up to the surface yet.

But her advice hit me like a brick because I realized that when I say I’m going to call it quits on school, it’s just me hiding behind my kids’ mentality about it, when really it’s my own mentality.

I don’t want to do it.

Yes, as Amityville Long Island’s own De La Soul said – It’s just me, myself, and I.

I don’t want to keep track of the emails and text messages telling me what I have to do to help my kids.

I don’t want to interrupt whatever I’m doing to log on to Zoom meetings.

I don’t want to deal with my child when he tells me he doesn’t want to do something for school.

All along I’ve been saying it’s been too much; implying that it’s too much for them, when really, it’s not. It’s just a little harder for me and I can totally do this if it’s what’s best for them.

Before you storm my house and burn me at the stake:

I KNOW IT’S NOT THE SAME FOR EVERYONE!!!

I know there are parents who simply cannot handle everything I mentioned above because of their job, their own child’s needs, etc.

I’m only talking about how I took a good look at myself and my situation.

However, it was my friend’s sage advice that also opened my eyes to the fact that not every household is like the Petti household and just because I don’t thrive on busy-ness, doesn’t mean others don’t.

Busy-ness might be what is helping people survive right now.

Maybe thinking about their child’s future grades makes it easier for them to imagine that there IS a future for them to look forward to.

Just because in my little world, I think it would be ok to end school right now (🤞🙏🤞🙏), others may not.

Some kids need the structure. Some need the remnants of what a normal school year would have included. Some need that type of accountability and routine.

But, and like J.Lo, that’s a big BUT – if you don’t think your kids need it and it’s not working for you – in my humble opinion – it’s ok to say “I quit!”