Where I Make a Fool of Myself in Front of the Kids

The homework scene at my house is daunting, to say the least: five people, large and small, need to get things done on a schedule, need varying levels of assistance from me, and need multiple swift kicks in the metaphorical pants to make it happen.  It's downright crushing sometimes.

Tonight, I was sitting at the table with Kid #1 helping him with scales, while Kid #3 hovered at my shoulder asking me to quiz her on spelling words, while Kids #2, #4, and #5 tried to avoid homework and make noise.  My head was on a swivel, twirling this way and that, trying to respond to everyone, trying to keep everyone on task.  I was a touch overwhelmed.  I think it showed on my face.  I'm pretty sure I had that blank look on face that means my response mechanism is overloaded and my intelligence is compromised.

Kid #1 asked me: "Why are you in a crisis?"

So I launched into a tirade about how hard it is to be me, to shepherd the five of them through homework time, to keep them moving in the right direction.  I raged on: "I'm overwhelmed because it's soooo hard to make sure you are all working productively, to answer all of your questions, to get you to be polite when you're asking for help, to keep the distractions to a minimum, to blah-de-blah-de-blathery-blah....."  I had a pretty good lather going.


Kid #1 looked at me like I was bonkers and said:  "Mom.  I just asked you what a unit price is."

Whoops!  Self-absorbed much, mom?

We all had a pretty great laugh at that, actually, and it was just the comic relief we needed to carry us through to the end of homework time.

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