Keeping the wheels on

So this is what it takes for the wheels to fall off.

One child bandaging her sore ankle. then not being able to find shoes to put on, to take her sister to ballet class in the rain, having a major spak, making her sister late, everyone crying, and finally settling down when we arrive, to find that, after all that, sister doesn’t have her ballet shoes with her.

Rain, that means the clothes aren’t washed as quickly as usual, so a child has to wear a school top she doesn’t like, and gets into a crying jag before school.

A lost pencil case.

Having sisters in composite classes in the same stage. Younger child not trusting friends who are friends with her older sister, who, when the older sister is around, treats her like the annoying younger sister.

People being so pedantic about what someone else says that they are too busy correcting each other to have a conversation. Drives me crazy.

When the wheels fall off I run a quick list of options through my mind. I could go crazy. I could be calm and quiet. I could walk away and leave them to it. What works in one scenario may not work for another.

I woke up yesterday feeling stressed about everything I’m trying to do, thinking I should drop out of uni because it is all just too much. My teeth were hurting - fed up to the back teeth. I’m well aware that middle class stress is nothing compared to the stress of trying to house your children, feed them, clothe them and keep them safe. Then I found I can do more units over summer, speeding up the study. I can be qualified by June next year. So now I’ve booked for my residential school in the Easter holidays, we’ve had a chat about everyone helping out, and I’ll keep going. Really, we just need to eat, sleep and be kind to each other. Everything else is a bonus.

But for now, I have to get the washing dry.