What to Know
If you have even one kid who is busy after school most days, then you understand the after school chaos that involves running from work to school, possibly back to school again, and then to another activity, until finally getting home. But, oh no, it doesn’t stop there. Because if you are lucky enough to get home for dinner, you will then have to start on homework help, make dinner, clean up, facilitate a bath or shower, and get the bedtime routine going.
Clearly, I speak from experience here, but on TikTok, a mom, Erin, shares in a video what her family’s routine is like after school. It points to the very real scheduling nightmare that plenty of families face if they have busy kids. Even families with kids who don’t have after school activities have to deal with the frenzied drive to school after work to do pick-ups, and then get home to unpack bags, start homework, and so on. There is literally no world in which the after school chain of events is anything but at least a little chaotic.
The after work and after school scheduling chaos is real.
@erin.monroe_ #itsthemostwonderfultimeoftheyear #merrycrisis #momlife #fyp ♬ original sound – Erin Monroe
As if after school activities and appointments weren’t hard enough for parents, it’s often doubled during the holiday season. Don’t get me wrong, because I enjoy being able to encourage my kids’ activities and interests outside of school and even in relation to school. But that doesn’t mean I can’t vent about it to everyone who will listen.
The mom on TikTok, Erin, says in her video that she has three kids who have something going on at different times. It’s u p to her and her husband to make it all work. Somehow they do, because what are you really going to do other than make sure it all happens on time for your kids? It’s still tough as heck, though.
“Oh, what do you got going on after work today?” She says in her video, as though someone asked her the question. She goes on to add, “Oh, you know, not much. I’m just gonna pick all of my kids up at school, and then I’m gonna take the middle one over to the high school so she could do a full run through of her musical. And then I’m gonna take the older one and the younger one home, and I’m gonna feed them. And then I’m gonna get the younger one ready for soccer practice, and the older one ready for her winter concert. And then my husband’s gonna come home from work, and he’s gonna take the youngest one to a soccer practice.”
From there, according to Erin in her video, they have to fit in a meal for one kid and then all go to the middle child’s concert. That is, of course, after someone takes the middle one to the school. Afterward, the day is still not over, because when everyone gets home, they all have to shower. Let’s not even consider that water bill right now.
Erin definitely isn’t alone in the after school scheduling burnout. My kids aren’t half as busy, but some days, I find that three-hour window between getting home from school and getting ready for dinner a wild time filled with arguments about homework, drives to and from sports, and debates about cleaning up messes.
One user commented on Erin’s video, “You forgot the part where we all take turns crying.” Honestly, she is so real for that.
Another apparently overworked mom added, “What about walking the dogs, making the lunches, changing the laundry, sweeping the floor, taking the trash out, grab the mail, and ask how everyone feels LOL.” That “LOL” might have been tacked on the end, but the entire comment is pretty accurate, and there is nothing “LOL” about it, to be honest.
