Last school year, after ten years at home taking care of my boys, I went back to work. Not just any work - I started teaching PreK. I had taught before, in my previous life, but I taught math - junior high and high school math. It is a far cry from PreK! Not only did I get hired the day before new teacher orientation, I was switched campuses two days later,putting me at a different campus than my boys. If that wasn't enough the army decided my husband had to go to the captain's career course THAT year. So I was again acting as a single parent to my three boys - with my oldest in his first year of junior high school (wasn't that the BEST year of everyone's life?!?). To say my first year was rough is an understatement. My boys had nights where dinner was a bowl of cereal or macaroni and cheese - that they had to make BY THEMSELVES! They hated that I had gone back to work - They hated having to help more, They hated how late I often stayed, They hated that I would go back on the weekends, They hated our lack of home cooked meals. But mostly, they hated the fact that I was spending less time with them and not paying them 100 percent of my attention. In an effort to come up with a way to make them each feel loved and special I decided to start Mondays with Mom. Each boy gets one Monday a month to go on a one on one date with Mom. The rules are simple: the date has to cost twenty dollars or less, the money can only be spent on food and entertainment, movies are not allowed since it does not allow conversation with each other.
So why the blog??? Well, honestly, for me to document our time together. Someday, probably in the not too distant future, my boys will tell me I am a horrible, mean, awful mom who never really loved them or did anything for them. And instead of my usual response (You are right, I am the meanest mom ever and have an award to prove it!), I will show them this blog. Hopefully it will remind them of the fun we had together each month and they will start to know just how much I truly do love each one of them!
