I am usually a punctual person. Even when I have to drag 4 kids along with me I plan ahead and still get places on time, or even early. So it is very frustrating that out of 7 soccer games that Link has played I’ve been late to every one of them. The first time was forgivable because I was driving an unfamiliar route and mis-estimated times. The second time I had to scramble for chairs and water bottles. But by the third game the scramble to make sandwiches, get Link dressed, and get out the door should have been sufficiently systematized that I made it to the games on time. I guess I just didn’t want to accept the fact that I need 30-40 minutes to prep for soccer-game departure. I want down time after the Kiki pick-up, not to head straight into soccer prep.
Last week I was ready. I had all the kids in the car, we left on time, and then we spent 15 minutes stuck in traffic at a railroad crossing waiting for a train to decide to move. Fortunately most of the traffic we were stuck in was full of all the other soccer kids & coaches, so the game started late and we didn’t miss any of it. Today I was determined to actually be at the field and set up before the game began. At Soccer Game – 20 minutes all was looking well. Sandwiches were made, chairs were already in the car, kids had been warned. Then almost simultaneously Link had a frustrating moment with Super Mario 64 and declared he didn’t want to go to soccer, Kiki wanted me to find a video for her to watch while we were gone, Gleek disappeared out the back door to play at her friend’s house, and Patches’ had massive diaper failure.
The diaper failure was the most urgent problem, so I picked up Patches at arm’s length and carried him to the changing table. Kiki and Link, both fascinated by the mess, accompanied me. The smell quickly drove Kiki out of the room, but Link chose a moment half way through clean up to break out in tears because he didn’t want to miss his school carnival which also took place this evening. (That carnival is a whole different story, I’ll append it to the end of this post.) So I had to manage an emotional crisis while in the midst of toxic waste clean up. When Patches was sanitary again I turned him loose so that I could focus on Link. I talked through why we weren’t going to the carnival and helped him remember that he likes soccer and would be sad to miss his game.
I left Link to get dressed and ran over to the neighbor’s house to either retrieve Gleek or obtain permission for her to stay during the game. They were headed to the school carnival, so she had to come home. This involved chasing her twice around the yard and then over to my house where I instructed her to get her shoes on. By this time Link was in tears again because he couldn’t find all his soccer gear. I located it and helped him with his socks, shoes, & shin guards because those seem to be physically impossible for him to get on by himself. I sent Link out to the car. I grabbed the video for Kiki and instructed her that she was NOT to turn it on until the car pulled out of the driveway. (I didn’t need kids crying about missing a movie). Patches had gotten involved in a computer game, but fortunately all I had to say was “I’m going!” and he ran to me in fear of being left behind. So we all got into the car. Patches had no shoes, Gleek was still dressed in her princess dress-ups from a birthday party earlier in the day, and Link had achieved a state of anticipation. We pulled out of the driveway at Soccer Game + 5. The 10 minute drive made us a grand total of 15 minutes late. One game left. Maybe I’ll get to THAT one on time.
Rant about the School Carnival:
Locally PTA units run a fall carnival to raise money for programs. I like the PTA, I think they do good things. I don’t mind them raising money to help support the school, that is also a good thing. This year the carnival featured between 6-12 rented inflatable toys and other rides. Those things do not come cheap and so tickets for the carnival were 5 for $1 or $8 for an unlimited-rides armband. Those were the pre-sale prices, at-the-event prices were higher. Each ride was scheduled to take 2-4 tickets. For me to take my four kids with unlimited rides I would have been dropping almost $40 up front. Or I could spend $10 and get each of my kids 2-3 rides. Then there would have been the begging for candy and food and the stress of keeping track of my kids in a crowd. I can’t afford the $40 route and the cheaper route would guarantee me to have 4 crying kids at the carnival because they wanted more rides. I hoped to dodge the whole issue. I hoped that somehow Link would miss the information about the carnival. No such luck, they put up big colorful posters all over the school. Link fell in love and had his hopes set on going to the Carnival. He plotted and schemed on the way home today trying to figure out how to make it happen. So now I am mad at the PTA for putting on a big, expensive, shiny, show; then pricing it so high that I can’t afford to take my kids to it. Mostly I’m mad because my little boy was sad. Fortunately Link is a very resiliant person and once we talked things through, he accepted non-attendance at the carnival and will move on happily to other points of anticipation.
End Rant.
The good news is that having survived the pre-soccer-game chaos, the rest of the evening has gone smoothly. I’ve just got Link and Kiki to put to bed and then I’ll have some time to myself. I’ll probably spend it falling asleep the minute I can sit still.
