Back to School! The Mom Chaos Begins!

The back-to-school chaos is officially here! 😅

In this episode of Mama’s Playground, we’re talking about the REAL struggles of getting back into the school routine—from early mornings and homework to school supplies, activities, car lines, and mom guilt.

We also talk about the pressure to keep up with back-to-school traditions and whether we’re helping our kids become more responsible or doing too much for them.

Plus, we play a fun back-to-school game and reveal what we’re excited about… and what we’re definitely NOT ready for! 😂

Are YOU ready for back to school? 💕

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to Mama's Playground. Back to school edition. I don't think I'm crying already. I I am I'm crying. I'm really crying. Like it's right now there's like a there was a fly around us. I monica. It's like, is it gonna bother us? And I said, let's name it. We can call it summer because it's flying away so fast. It what happened?

SPEAKER_00 0:28

I don't know. I don't know. It's like we started summer and I was so excited because I said, you know what? I don't have to wake up the kids that early. Yes, they're going to camp and all that, but you know what? It's gonna be more relaxed. I don't have to worry too much about lunchboxes and homework and and it's gone. What happened? I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

I feel that we I mean, we at least in my side, because okay, last year we did camp in Puerto Rico. Before that, she was she did VPK camp. So this year, because it said the first camp I put her in, it was from 8 to 3. So I would I don't know why I thought that she had to be there at 8. So I'm like, why am I waking up early? Why am I stressing it? I still have to make the lunch, it's still in the same school she goes to. And then Fabian goes, it is camp. You know that you don't have to drop her off at 8. Yes, Starlene. I didn't know that. So then I sign her up with you guys and I take them at like 11 o'clock. And then I'm like, why is she they're getting ready to go to camp? Luna has been there since eight. And then slowly I I realized, okay, they You're in summer.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

I didn't know that. This is summer break. Are you kidding me? I couldn't get the kids to wake up that early. And then I said, you know what? They wake up every morning early. I'm gonna give them the chance to sleep in to at least nine. Then I'll wake them up, then I'll get them breakfast. And I was taking them to camp around 10, 10:30, 10, 10:30.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

I think there was one day I took them at 11.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

And oh no, and then But they stayed so late. No, this is the thing. I remember being like, oh my god, the one that I I when I moved her to your camp, it's from eight to six. So I remember saying, Oh my beautiful six. No, I was like, six, no way, no way, no, and I go, Mamita, I'm gonna pick you up at around 2:33. Mom, why don't you ask the other moms at what time they're coming? So I asked Yoko, and she goes, five-ish. You, I think you said the same thing. And I'm like, wait, wait, it's okay. So I'll try. I'll try. I loved it.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Are you kidding me? It's great. And they loved it. They don't want to be picked up. I would pick them up. I think one time I picked them up around, I don't know, I think it was four. And my little one, even the big one, because afterwards he didn't want to go for some weeks, but even in the beginning, he was like, Mom, why are you picking us up so early? You can pick me up at six. And I said, Really?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Scorch.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

And to me, it was great. I mean, I get me, don't get me wrong, I love to be with them, but during summer I still had to do my stuff. So it was an advantage to get stuff done in the house and not have them around and know that they're playing with other kids. It was amazing. And then now we go back to normal school hours, which is too much.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

I'm not gonna be used to that though now. I got used to the whole five-ish and which was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Well, unless you leave them in after school care, which obviously we can do, we can leave them in after school care.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

She's gonna start religious studies, CCDs on Thursdays. So I don't think I would do the after school program because she has the oh man, and now now I'm saying that out loud, and I'm like, here comes the activities.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

That's what I I'm here thinking of everything that I also need to buy because we are at the end and I still haven't purchased. You still don't have the supply list. I do not have the, I mean, so hold on. In the when the year was ending, they sent, you know, that now they have this like uh third-party company that will buy everything for you. So the box gets to your school with everything. And I told Benjamin, I think we should do this because I have a friend Jennifer that's super organized. And before she even left on vacation, she was still in school. She had already bought the box.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

That is very smart.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

And I was like, Why can't I follow her? I it just it just doesn't happen. But she did it, she purchased it because she was gonna be gone for like a month and a half in summer. Um, and she said, No, I already, Monica, I already have everything done. And I said, What do you mean? School's not even done yet.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Oh, yeah, I yeah, I remember her saying something that even the uniforms everything that I had to wait. We did it right before we went to Puerto Rico because I was just waiting till the last minute because they grow like Luna and her side, she's like very tiny, uh weight, but she's tall. Yeah, so it's like okay, it's perfect on the top, but now it's too short, and so I was waiting till towards getting the noise. Did you get the school supplies? Yes, I did um Amazon. Yes, I sat one time in June and I just started putting everything on the cart, and then that's it. Some things pissed me off though. The composition notebooks. Because last year and the year before, they asked for the notebooks, and then when you get them back at the end of the year, they only use like two pages.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Oh my god, I was gonna say that. I think I have four composition notebooks, and I said, What'd they make us buy all this for? They only use two pages of it, and the rest my kids took and they were you know scribble scrabbling on them and they broke some papers and I said, Where but not just the composition books, the folders that they said, buy two red, buy two yellow, buy two whatever for whatever, whatever stuff. I I know, but I said they never even used them, so why did I like there were some that were not used.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

We use them a lot.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

And I said, Some of them are new, and then some my son got and he just scribbled on them. And I said, Why did you do that? Because I could use it for next year versus having to. I mean, those cost usually like 50 cents, right? That's we're not talking a huge deal, but still it could be reusable and it's all written on and scratched on. And my little one took all these like soccer stickers of like Messi and Ronaldo and all that, and he posted it all over the all over his like stuff.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

That's his I tell Luna now you have the notebooks here, then use them. And then some I did tear some pages out, clean it up, and second grade it is.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

I I have a pet peeve with these things though, because they do send, like you have to have your box in with all the supplies, your Lysol. Give them that. I have it here. I have your wipes. Uh what what other things is it that they're asking? A pack of red pens. Yeah, but what do they need that for? That's for their needs.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

No, it's for the teacher.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah, the teachers but there's 25, there's 25 kids, and they all bring 10 red pens. How many pens do you need? How many red pens does a teacher need?

SPEAKER_01 6:42

I don't know. I'm not a teacher. Each pack comes with what? 12? I don't know. We have the three uh I can't say that word. I'm so sorry. What is it? Rems, reams of copy paper. Oh, the reams of paper? The reams, yeah. Three. I don't know why. It's they're not writing a manuscript.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

I swear to you, they take this and they hoard, they hoard the supplies and they say, okay, we'll use this for us for next year for our classroom. I'm telling you, that's what it is. Which is fine. Which is fine.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

We are in charter school, which I am happy with, and this is our way to contributing and our volunteer work.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Which, how do you feel about volunteer work? Are you do you pay for the hours or do you actually school? You volunteer?

SPEAKER_00 7:26

I literally, with my new like schedule that I had, like that was the whole purpose. I left where I was working because I was on site all the time and I started working from home because of that. I said I want to have the opportunity to do the volunteer and be there and see the friends and know the teachers and be involved in their extracurricular. So I I like to be a part of it, but there's been times where if I can't, I will pay if I wasn't able to, you know, to volunteer.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

I have a friend that um that didn't like volunteering, and she said, No, you know, I'll pay for it. But as the kids get older, also you really want to know who they're hanging out with. And the best way is kind of to get to like volunteer, get to know who your kid is hanging out with, the friend, and I I know. I mean, in my case, I like to be very much involved and just know also who the parents are. I'm not excited about the no WhatsApp chat because the last ones never close. So they don't stake. So now it is gonna be my third.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Obviously, the there's the pros and cons of everything. I mean, summer was summer. I you had a lazier summer. We allowed them probably to eat stuff that we usually don't let them eat. They would wake up, they don't eat breakfast on time. When I go to bed late, yeah. We we are very different. I feel like we are very different, you know, during summer versus the regular school year, right? Like I think we probably get more militant during school year. Like, you need to be in bed by eight o'clock. My kids were going to bed around 11, and I would fall asleep sometimes and I would still hear the TV going on, and I'd say, You need to go to bed, but mom, it's summer. We're just going to summer camp, you know? And I was like, You need to go to bed because you don't wake up for summer. You like for summer camp, they don't wake up. Noah, are you kidding me? To get that kid, it's summer camp. Come on, I'm letting you sleep. It's 10 o'clock. Get up. You're gonna eat a late breakfast. Mommy, I'm so sleepy, I don't want to. And then I feel bad, I felt bad waking them up because I said, It is true, it's summer. Like, let me let him sleep.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Yeah, I I let Luna a week without anything because another thing, homework doesn't stop. Oh my god, she had the i ready, she had a big book, math workbook to finish. We bought another one on Amazon that was recommended by her other teacher. Uh so, and then the reading assignments, and I feel that in my case, and we've talked about this in another episode. I had some serious guilt trip at the beginning of the summer because everybody was leaving and we were not, we didn't have any summer plans. And I'm like, oh my god, like it's all summer. And she wanted to do summer camp at her schools, which by the way, the kids while they were together in summer camp. I don't know if you know this, they told one of the teachers that our moms have a podcast. So did they? And I go, Really, Luna? Because I mean, I don't know who's listening, and I don't know. I know sometimes don't hold it against our kids. You know, don't hold it against our kids. But when she told me that, I'm like, oh great, okay, you tell her, yeah. And she opened the phone and she looked and she's following. So there's a teacher out there following. Who though, from my from from my camp? From your camp. Uh, I don't know who you have to like say the name. Who is it? But yeah, so shout out, and and we apologize in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

If we ever say anything that we're not supposed to in some of our episodes, no, it's true. Sometimes, like, you can't help it. You're like, who's listening? Damn, I shouldn't have said that. Um, but yeah, the going back to the going back to school. I am not looking forward to the militant, like, you need to be in bed by eight o'clock. I need to wake up super early, get your breakfast, get your lunchbox. And I take my kids a shower every morning. So it's like, get in the shower. And thankfully, again, now you do. Always. Always. You're the one that didn't. No, no, okay. You were the one that said, I don't take her a shower in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

That is no, that's said that to me. No, no, no, no, no. Wait. You said I take her shower what? I'm gonna go back to that episode. I am gonna find it because this is what happened. This is remember the opening at Off the Wall, the place next to it. It was one of the first times that we hung out, the two couples. And that day, school had just started and we were debating because Fabian was more like she needs a shower in the morning. And I went, Oh yeah, maybe it was you, and you said no, she doesn't for what? Because I wanted it at in oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

It was you, it was you. I wanted in the evenings, yeah, and then I started doing it twice. And the reason I told you, I said I cannot let them, you know, because I know how it is. You wake up, you're groggy. You I I if I don't take a shower in the morning, which I've done before, because I work from home and I get straight on the computer after eating breakfast, I don't feel alert. So I always felt like I gotta do the same thing for my kids. They need to get up, they need to take a shower, they'll they'll refresh and they'll wake up, and then their day can start from there. You were the one that's like, why? Let them sleep, you know, let them sleep.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

I cannot believe that I was totally wrong. I was fighting it, and there's evidence in video and in audio. Yes, I remember what happened. I'm always before you go to bed, you have to take a shower. You have to take, you know, all the dirt, all the energy, all whatever. Luna has eczema, it's really controlled, but it's really light. But at that point, I was just scared that we were giving her too many showers because it was at night and then in the morning. And then Fabiana's like, let's just do it in the morning. And I'm like, no, the most important one is the one at night in the morning after she comes back from school. Yeah, in the morning, she can wash her face, and then you know, with a wipe, we you know, you I don't have to explain. But that was the thing. I'm like, so we'll do it at night, and in the morning is a quick one. And he would be like, No, no, she needs to shower in the morning, and okay, so we're debating this, and then we meet at uh the par at that event, and I am thinking that Monica was gonna be like with me a hundred percent and Benji, and I go, What do you guys think about this? And they go, Yeah, of course. We can't always take them a shower in the morning. They take a shower in the morning, and I'm like, Oh, so anyway, fast forward to now, we try to do both.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Obviously, if there's a day you're running very late and you can't, I get it. But our routine is yeah, in order for them to have a successful morning, like wake them up, especially my little one. He wakes up like a teenager, like the the kid that's been on the phone all day long, you know, at nighttime under the covers, which he doesn't do obviously. He's only you know six years old. But he is the kid that you cannot get him out of bed. So I will tell him, if you don't get out of bed, I'm gonna get a cold cup of ice water. Which is what you do for yourself, which is what I do for my face, but I'm gonna throw it on you and I'm gonna throw it onto your bed. And then he wakes up, he goes one eye open like that, and he says, Okay, mommy, I'm going. You know, it's the only way that I could get him to do it. So the showers for me, it it helps because it helps to like relive, like revive him, especially him, because Jacob is great, but but Noah, oof, forget about it.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Talking about showers, has it happened to you that you wake up and you're like, Okay, let me take the kids to school. You're wearing your PJs, or maybe you're wearing a nice top and then your PJ pants and flip-flops, whatever, your crocs and socks. Um Crocs and socks. And then you we don't do that.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

I don't do it. My kids do it all the time, but I don't do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

And then uh, and then suddenly you have to get out of the car.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Yes, that's happened to me. Didn't that happen to you for uh Mother's Day? Mother's Day was horrible. Mother's Day, I forgot it was Mother's Day. I literally rushed out of the house. Thankfully, I didn't go to the gym that day. I you know, I mentioned that. I was supposed to go to the gym. Actually, Benjamin said, No, go to the gym, take advantage. I'll take them to school. And I said, No, I want to drop them off. I forgot it was a Mother's Day event, and I went dressed with chancletas, my hair like wrapped in a bun. I had no anything on. I had a t-shirt and leggings on. I looked literally like I had just woken up. And when I got there, the security guard told me, Hey, aren't you getting down? And I said, What do you mean? And then there it went. I had to get down. In a Mother's Day event, every mom there was dressed with their pretty flower dress and their heels and their makeup and all that. And I was the only one that looked like I sweated for I don't know how many hours that I just came out of the gym. It was it was bad. It was bad. And everybody's like, Don't worry about it. I'm sure the other moms were judging me and saying, How could she forget Mother's Day? How could that be? But it wasn't like Mother's Day the day, it was like the school event that they do sometimes like five days before. So I'm I'm giving I'm giving myself grace.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

You're giving yourself, yeah, exactly. Like my friend who she didn't know that she was invited to her daughter's student of the month ceremony. She goes, Yeah, I received the white yellow paper, but you know, they bring with so I am not looking forward to that. I'm not looking at a whole packet of I mean, we love you, we love your drawings, but they're just so many.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

And and so many. I'm just thinking all the things. I'm sorry to the teachers now that you say one teacher may be listening to us from our from our schools or whatever, but I say to myself, I am not looking forward to, and I'm sure they don't look forward to it either, all the testing and all the homework that they are gonna get. Like, we are gonna start again in the thing of pick them up. They're extra school, like the extracurricular activities. Okay, great. And then come on, your schoolwork. You gotta finish your schoolwork. You have school, like the the work for tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Sign up, genius, sign in, sign up to volunteer. The teacher needs the supply list. The October's my favorite month. It's my birthday month. I love it. And all the holidays are coming. For some reason, it gives me anxiety.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Really?

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Because it's Halloween. It's just a lot of events, and back in the day, it used to be what were you for Halloween? And I would be Cinderella or Gorilla or whatever. But now it's like, well, for Friday for the chunk of treat, I'm gonna be Elsa. And now, and then Saturday, because I'm gonna go out with my friends, I'm gonna be But you see, I don't follow it. I don't follow it. So now it's so so this year, this year, I told her, You're gonna wear whatever it is in your closet. You have 20,000 princess dresses who sadly she's gonna stop wearing soon. Yeah, so let her just get it out of the way. And all your dance recital, and then dance recital dresses. You can be that. I am gonna save that Halloween tacata ta money, and I want to go somewhere for my birthday. That's it. Done. Said, and I put it out. It's true though.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

No, it is true. It is it is everything looking for the it's it's true. It's you get there and now it starts like el correcor of every day. And it's not the correcor of getting up. Sorry, the run run. That's what it sounds like in English. The run-run. The run run of all day in like the school and then the breakfast and the lunchbox and get to school on time because if you're school and you're in school like two minutes late, you're late, and you have too many tardies, which I had like several. You okay? Can I say the number? Can I say the number? No my I don't what did I tell you that? I had like 25 late, and I don't know. But, anyways, I was like, I I can't. Like, there's just no way for me to get there on time. First of all, school's like 25 minutes. I can, but it's a mission.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

I admire you parents out here that have more than one. What's because each one probably one can find the shoes, the other one doesn't want to get out of bed, the other one threw the breakfast to the floor because I don't want eggs this morning. What is the most challenging part for you?

SPEAKER_00 19:12

In general, I think it's I for me, it's getting them on a schedule. It's getting them to follow a schedule because they feel like they are still on the weekends. Like Friday rolls around and they go to sleep a little bit later. And then Sunday comes around, and I'm like, nope, you need to go to sleep early. You have school tomorrow. And they don't want to do it. They'll stay talking and talking and talking. They like to sleep with each other in the same room. So they'll start talking and talking and then they'll stay there till midnight. And I put them to bed at night. It's adorable. But then always remember that. But the next morning, the one that's struggling to get them up is me and Benjamin. Yeah, we're like, get up. You need to go to school. We need to be there on time. We're rushing. The uh, the what is it? The car line to get the car line because then you gotta drop them off. And then it's just every and then schoolwork. My little one hates to do schoolwork. When I say hates, it is that he's so he's very smart and he gets it, but he does not like schoolwork. And I and I and he tells his brother to do it for him. And I'm like, Oh, no, you need to do it. No, mommy, you do it. So he'll give me the school. So it's it's the fighting, the constant fighting of to do the schoolwork, that if a project needs to be turned in on time, doing the project, and lots of times the parents end up doing the projects for them. I mean, let's be honest. At this age, it's like you end up doing it for them. That's my biggest struggle. Just getting that routine going, getting them to actually follow through. And again, it's more that they don't follow through than that they follow through. I don't know if that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

There's more that they don't follow through.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

No, because I try to get them on a schedule and that could only last for like two or three days, and then they're back at it where they don't want to do their schoolwork, or oh mommy, you do it. I don't feel like doing it. And then they don't eat on time.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

I did it many years ago.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

It's your turn. I tell them, I was like, appreciate this. Then when you get older, it's gonna be other things. But you know what? Our parents told us that. Did we listen? No. No, nobody nobody learns from other people's experiences. You learn from your own experience. So my biggest struggle for back to school is that getting them on a routine where it's a system that it works well and that they're thriving. I mean, they're all they're thriving, but that they are, you know, that I'm not fighting with them to do homework and to sit down, pay attention. Like it's all day long, constant. And I don't know, but Noah, our little ones are in a like a mode that they're like more rebellious to the city. Oh my gosh, I'm gonna be able to do that. They are rebellious.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

It's like, no, no, but I tell them, okay, next time you ask for something, I'm gonna act the exact same way.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

But I said that to Noah the other day. I told Noah, Noah, can you do me a favor, please? We I was rushing to get out the door and I said, Can you go and get the keys to the car? I forgot them. Hurry, I've got all this stuff in my hand. He's like, No, mom, I don't feel like it. You go do it. And I said, You go do it. You have nothing in your hands, go get the keys. Jacob went to go do it for me. Jacob goes, Mommy, I'll get it for you. And he got it. And I looked at Noah and I said, Hey, next time you do that, next time you ask me for a book on Amazon that you want, that you don't read sometimes, but you want it, or a toy, or you want me to take you somewhere, I'm gonna tell you no as well. Because you can't help me. Why should I help you? And so then he stayed thinking. Well said. Well said. You know, I have to tell I have to teach them somehow, right? But anyways, yes. What is your biggest thing for summer? Like what is the the struggle in your household for summer? Sorry for back to school. For back to school.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Um cooking rice and beans or rice and steak at six o'clock in the morning. Because sometimes, you know, it the ideal thing is to do meal prep and do it the night before. But you know, sometimes it doesn't work like that. Sometimes most of the time waking up and being like, oh no. And then, you know, Luna, you know, she she likes rice, she has she likes pasta, but she won't have sandwiches. She won't have the easy to pack lunches. Yeah, she wants homemade meals. She wants homemade meals. Uh, so yeah, you see me checking the cafeteria schedule. Please let me be something she likes. Please, please, please. And I'm like, okay, I'm good. But it's just waking up at times, and that will wake me up at night. Like, oh my God, wait, I put the alarm for this time. No, I have to do it. I have to cook, I have to cook. And then I'm the type of person I wake up and I could be two hours without having breakfast. Fabiana is the total opposite. Uh, so for me to wake up and be cooking steak and I put like soy sauce and stuff that early, it's like, uh, and then we're all smelling like steak in the house.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Luna's gonna be the little girl that goes to school and everybody's like, Luna, you smell like a whole like cafeteria. If the bear walks by, he'll eat it.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

He'll eat her ideal. She's like, I guess not that her hair smells like steak, you know. So, yeah, so I would say that's the biggest one. And then um just sitting her down to do homework, I guess, but also in the summer she did. I had her do it, and I would make it, you know, like a game.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

So Oh come on, she did not do it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

No, she uh obviously no kid is gonna be like, yeah, but it wasn't such a struggle because I would put it like on an easel, you know, Tuesday, uh, we're gonna do reading from here this time to this time. Then it's free play, and usually free play was followed by let's go to the pool and ta-da-da. And so them seeing like that and writing helps. Uh, it helped, and so I'm gonna try to see how to do it now for yeah, for when she comes home from school, like having it written there that she knows you have to accomplish this, and then at the end, I'll be able to do it.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

You have a reward, you know, you have a reward system, whatever it is. She loves brownies. You know, it's just your brownies. It's funny that you say that now that I'm thinking about it during the whole summer. It's funny, my little one again does not like to do homework.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

This presentation that you're getting him. I love him.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

He's he's the he's great. I mean, I love obviously both my children, but they both have their things, right? And this one is just like I don't want to do schoolwork. But they gave him a summer packet, like these teachers send the summer packet. You know, I think every school probably does, that they say, well, try to get them to do the summer packet while you are at, you know, at home or whatever you're doing, so that they continue the consistency. And I get it. So then when they get to school, it's not like, oh my God, we had two months of not doing anything, and now it's hard to even get in the rhythm of things. So I get it. But again, we didn't follow the summer packet thing. We didn't do it all the time. And my little one actually, every day in the car to summer camp would be like, Mommy, I haven't done my summer packet. And I would look at him and I would say, Really, Noah? Really, you want to do something, mommy? But the summer packet, I have to do it. You see, you're putting the blame on Noah, and all this time it was your fault.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Hold on.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

And then I would give him the summer packet, and he did it probably like twice or like let's say like three times, and his dad would say, You need to do at least six pages. And he would do it. But you know what's funny is that he was- Is that the math? It in it was, I think it was there was two, there was two, no, it was one summer packet, and it was kind of all everything was in there. We had math and it had like reading stuff. And every day he would ask me about the summer packet, and I would say, This is so weird. This kid never asked for schoolwork, and in summer he's asking for his summer packet. I mean, I I think it was it's weird. It was weird.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

For me, that for that part for me was so easy because at the first camp she went to, which is her school, for the kids that go to that school, they made them uh during camp, like finish it. Well, like it was they helped the situation. But maybe Noah was missing some schoolwork, who knows? Because if they're doing it for so many months, and I don't know what his teacher said. That's crazy, that's weird to me.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

I know my son. I was like, why does he have this summer packet thing in his mind? They must have said, like, finish your summer packet. If you get it, your parents are gonna give you a good price. Something must have been said to him for him to be asking for the summer packet during summer because that is not like my child, you know. And I know this is what I'm not looking forward to. School's gonna start, and that's what's gonna be the rebellion of I don't want to, mommy. I want to watch TV, mom, but I'm tired. And I get it. It's six hours of school. They're little still, you know, six years old, eight years old, and they need a break. They want to come home, they want to veg out on the sofa. I mean, they want to watch some TV sometimes. They want to do something else versus, you know, homework. I agree. And it's a it's a lot of homework. But then talking to the teachers at one point, she said to me, Do you think we want to give this much homework? They require us to do this. This is from the state. We have to do this. It's not something that we love. She's like, we do need to give them something so that they continue, like, you know, learning and all that. But there's some things that they don't feel is necessary.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Now that you say that, um, I remember talking to a teacher, and she was telling me how they really don't like uh I ready. Yeah. And again, they said the same thing, you know, it's the state. So I'm wondering then who in the state do we need to speak with? Please tell me. Who is making these decisions and based on what research and times change? So also when was this decision made? Um but then at the same time, I have a friend who has a daughter that goes to a school where they don't provide my friend as well. So in that school, that there's no homework. I don't like that either because I also like that she's learning discipline. She comes home from school, she'll have a snack, maybe watch a little bit of something, a little bit, uh, and then a little bit, a little bit, and then schoolwork, and um I think it's important. I I I remember I didn't like homework growing up, at least in social studies and in science, everything else I was okay with. But that's what pushed us from little kids to you know be on responsible and know that you know it's things that you have to do. And then last year, Luna was mom, these rainbow colors, I don't like them. And I'm like, you have to put these words in order and then write them down rainbow colors with crayons.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

I'm like, you love rainbow, you love coloring. It's like it's so cute, like it was so easy, and she didn't like it. And she said, It's just so hard. And I go, baby, it's just gonna get harder. And I took a video of her saying that she didn't like to do it, and I said, This video, I swear I'm gonna be showing this to you and you're gonna wish you could go back. You're gonna be like, I miss the rainbow color. But you know what?

SPEAKER_00 29:48

It's funny that you say that thinking this like psychologically, because you know I always try to think a little deeper. At the age that they're in, for them it's boring, and for them, it's we look at it already like, oh, that's simple. We're going through other things right now. But at their age range, I could understand being six years old, sitting there, not knowing any better of what's to come in life. And they're giving you these things, and you're like, Do I really gotta do this rainbow color thing? But what is this like? Why? Why do you keep sending me these things to do? I get it. I under I understand there's things I get now as an adult, and I'm like, why do I have to do that? Like, why do they want me to do this? You know? So I can relate. I can relate. And maybe that's where Noah gets like, I don't want to do my homework, mommy. Maybe it's from me a little bit, you know? It's probably from you. You know, I I was a home, I was a homework. No, I was not. Let's let's not lie. Let's not lie. I'm not gonna lie. I love homework. I loved art and I loved science. I did not love math. And it's funny because now as an adult, I like math, but I like math with numbers and percentages. Like that's it, math with numbers. I mean, I yes, it is. Yes, I'm sorry, that sounded like retarded, but yes, math is with numbers, darling. But you know what I mean? Like with percentages and all that. When I was growing up, I was like, uh mommy, I don't want to do this. And my mom says that we do, she's from Spain, she says that we do math here backwards. Like, I don't know. Have you ever had anybody she says we do it backwards? I feel that everybody in Spain says that everything that we do here is backwards. She's like, I don't understand these math things. Like, why do they make you do it like this? You just need to get to the answer because you know that when you get older and you start getting more complicated math, I forget like you're not gonna be dividing the tens by all that, which I have forgotten about.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

There's a formula that I just learned that last year.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

But there's formulas that they make you follow here. You gotta do it like this to get your answer. And my mom would tell me, Why? If you can get the answer, doing it the other way. Why do they make you do these long processes? So I get it. It's tedious and it's sometimes boring. And how much of that do you use in your real life?

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Measurement. But that's what it's like that's the thing that later in life I'm like, oh man, I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

I don't know, but I I feel like there's some things that are just like we don't we don't need. I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Alright, so I have a little game for you. Shoot. Okay. On a scale of one to ten, how thrilled are you that summer is over? I'm like a six. A six, seven. Six, seven. Are you seven? Yeah. Okay. I mean, no, I'm a six. Actually, no, I'm a four. I don't know. I don't know. I do always look for the positive, which is again, I'm 20 minutes away from the school, so it's when I drop her off, it's 20 minutes on my own. When I pick her up, I'm in the car line for 15 minutes, so it's 15 minutes on my own, listening to podcasts, or what the news, or whatever, or just taking that time to not listen to anything, or just call a friend. So I those that's those moments I I actually did miss.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

But that's like a personal thing. That's your personal thing. What is it that you think of and you say I am looking forward to this with my child because they're the ones going to school and they're the ones bringing back the homework and the then the WhatsApp chat and their volunteer thing and all that. Like, what do you are you looking forward to any of that? I mean, obviously there's nice experiences, right? Like, you know, you get to go to the field trips, and then there's projects that you do get to do that you get to be with your child, and you know, you get to do something together. Like, there's obviously positive things to it, but ah, you know, I think that every parent feels what you just did.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Yeah, it's like it's like everybody right now, just take a breath. It's back to the craziness, it's back to the craziness, and no experiences, no friends, no they're learning and they're growing so fast. That's kind of one thing that I get like, oh my god. Okay, if you get asked to be the room mom, yes or no? No, I do yes, no. I like to have a relationship. I don't have time for the teacher and I like it. But I heard that it gets hard in second grade, but I'm thinking, what's the difference between first and second? I mean, it's not like they're going from elementary to middle school. Not that you need a don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

I like the whole thing of the the the what is it called? The room mom. I like it, but I just feel like there's not enough time for it. And the the room mom that we had last year, she was amazing. I mean, she had a full-time job, but yet for somehow, somehow, that woman showed up on WhatsApp telling everybody every time that there was something that needed to be done. Hey guys, remember, tomorrow is so and so. Remember, she was keeping every single parent on that WhatsApp chat on point. And if it wasn't for her, I'm telling you, I think a lot of people would have forgotten like a lot of things because she would and people would say, Oh my god, thank you, Jennifer. Thank you so much for reminding. You're the best. Like Jennifer? Her name was Jennifer. Not Jennifer, my friend, because she's not in my school, but another, another like another lady there, super good room mom. So I said, Oh wow, that's amazing. I would love to be more involved, but to be room mom and take charge, like, no, no, because I know that I would drive myself crazy because I have a thousand other things I drive myself crazy about.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

I say that I want to do it, but then I'm like, do I want more responsibility? Responsibilities. I did good in Kinder last year. Um I wasn't a room mom, but I was always trying to help whenever possible, but I didn't have that pressure. But this year I'm up to a challenge. Let's do it. Okay, last question. So it's the day that you go and you meet the teacher and everything. Are you excited about like meeting the new teacher or you're just like looking in the room to see like all the parents? All of it. All the people that are gonna be big influences in your kids' life for the next year.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

All of it. I always, and every time we have one of those like uh homeroom things or whatever for the for the following year, I always go, but I analyze everything. And I'm excited to meet the new teacher and I analyze her to see how she comes off and what kind of teacher I think she's gonna be for my child, and if it's a good mix or not. Then I look at the parents and I look to see, you know, who's gonna be around and who's gonna be around my kids. Except, like, for instance, in Jacob's uh situation, he's with the same kids for the next five years until fifth grade. The one that I have to look at now is Noah, like I don't know who he's gonna be around, and I pray to God it's like good influence, right? Because he doesn't need he doesn't need like he'll he'll go, you know, with whoever. So I'm just hoping that it's good influence, that the parents are good, and that the teacher is good, you know, that the teacher is is I we had an amazing teacher last year.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

But it's funny that you say that because when the school year started, you were not happy.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Yeah, because they changed out. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So when when in the beginning of the year when Noah got in. I got in and the teacher there, it's not that I didn't like the teacher, I felt she was uh maybe too young. And I don't want to say that because there's some young teachers that are amazing, but I felt she was very inexperienced, and these kids were just gonna, you know, like topple her over, you know what I mean? Like they were just gonna, you know, do away with whatever they wanted. And it was kind of like that. I got used to her, and then when she left, we got another teacher um, you know, in the middle of school year that was amazing. We've had her before, she's like she's been teaching for 20 years, so academically it was really good for these kids, you know, to get on par. So again, you go in, you analyze, but you also have to give the benefit of the doubts, right? To the teacher that's gonna be teaching. It's not an easy job.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

Yeah, no, and like you said, the age doesn't matter. Luna's teacher, she actually went to elementary school with Kenya, so she's in her early 20s, and she was amazing. Amazing, she was so great. Love her, love her, love her. We'll miss her this school year. Uh, but yeah, very good. One thing I wanted to say before we leave. This is I don't know if you have any traditions or do you have any traditions actually with the kids?

SPEAKER_00 38:02

For what? Uh for when the beginning of the year, aside from the uniform or school supplies, or you know that I don't, and every time it's again, we go to like Instagram and all that, and you see everybody first they have to go with this the board and who is their teacher and this and that, and then I feel like the mom that like slacks, I say, Oh man, I didn't do that, and I've never done that. And should I start doing it? And I said, Ugh.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

That board, I remember one year I had already dropped her off, and then I went on Instagram and I saw people posting pictures, and I'm like, the fucking board I had left it. Like, left it, I didn't even fill it out. It was in the room. I felt so bad. So then when she came home from school, I did it the other way around. I'm like, okay, let's do it now, just so we have it. Uh, and then for the last day of school, we were arguing. It was a hard morning, and that picture, if you see it, it was like but you know what?

SPEAKER_02 38:55

Those are the memories. Yeah, those are the memories.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

That thing, uh, okay, weird.

SPEAKER_00 39:03

The board I never do, but I have obviously I take picture first day of school of both of them together in their uniform and all that. And I guess the board is a cute idea, it's just one more thing to do, right? Like the board, the grade, because then you can look back on it if you have been consistent throughout the years and you put it in their favorite.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

Their favorite color and all that. But so one thing that we started doing after with after elementary, um, after pre-K, when we transitioned to kind of that we left our group of friends, you know. Um, the moms, we just started doing breakfast together that first day of school. So we were all dropping the kids off in different school, but we would get together. We would meet the moms at 8:30 and have breakfast. And at the beginning, it was actually we never cried. I think we were pretty good, but it was fun, and that's something that I'm looking forward to. And you're invited uh to just drop them off and then go for breakfast with your mom friends. And I don't know, it's a good way to start um what could be a challenging, fun, interesting, busy year, not only for the kids, but more than for the parents. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

So we're wishing everybody a good back to school, that it's not so hectic, that you don't have to wait in line all day to get your kids to school, that it's just a smooth first day.

SPEAKER_01 40:27

Let's see if we're this smooth, if we're vibing the smoothness in a couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

I say that we take a picture of the first day and then we post it because I'm sure it's not gonna be smooth and we're gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

Forget about the board for the kids. We need to do our own board. Yes, the mama's board.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

Well, we're we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

Exactly. Well, thank you everybody. We will see you next week. Back to school. Yep. Bye bye. Bye.