If you have not noticed by now, the holidays have arrived.
If you have not noticed, then you need to pay more attention.
The streets in almost all neighbourhoods are crawling with children looking for ways to pass time.
The very long holidays that we used to have back in the day before Covid-19 came and distorted our collective sense of time and reality.
Now that the school calendar is back to normal, children can stay home for two months before they go back to school in January, having forgotten almost everything they had learned all year long.
Anyway, this means that Tis also the season of graduation —kindergarten graduation, to be precise.
I was recently invited to a graduation ceremony at my daughter’s school, and even though she was not in the graduating class, I decided to be a good sport and attend.
Besides, I thought it would give us a little insight into what it would be like to graduate in two years, since we just started school this year.
The only insight I got was of the type of parent I am during these school events.
Apparently, I’m one of those parents who cannot stand being at such events.
We got there an hour after the event had started and 10 minutes in, I wanted to leave.
The activities they had were great but not great enough to sustain my attention for the remainder of the two-hour event.
I found myself on the phone, scrolling mindlessly, wishing I was somewhere else or at least wishing there was WiFi in that hall.
This is a terrible thing, to be honest, because part of the parenting job is showing up for your children to support them, especially at school activities.
I try to be a hands-on parent, being at every school meeting and all that Parent-Teacher Association stuff.
I even go to every school mass because my daughter’s school is a Catholic school and they want parents and their children to get the whole experience, spiritual and educational nourishment.
I know I cannot be the only person or parent who gets overwhelmed by these kinds of things.
I think with social media, it has gotten exceedingly difficult to keep the attention of a person for long periods of time.
Honestly, I don't think I can have my attention kept by a four-year-old singing “We wish you a merry Christmas” over and over for 10 minutes without wanting to check my phone and look for easy exits that I can take without anyone knowing.
I really sympathise with parents who struggle to sit through such school events.
Sometimes you need a good glass of a strong beverage to get you through them, and that’s fine.
It does not make you a bad person, I think it just makes you a real person.