Bring Your Child to Work Day

I know it’s not actually Bring Your Child to Work Day today, but I came across this photo of one of my first graders doing his math at Starbucks and had a good chuckle. You see, his teacher sends home 50-page math booklets during every school break. His brothers’ teachers do not. They give their students a hug at the classroom door and send them off with good wishes for a fun vacation.

I don’t know if you can truly appreciate the injustice of this if you are not a first grader or living with three first graders. Trust me when I say that it’s a heinous sentence for the one with trudging homeward with a backpack full of unsolved math problems.

And terrible mother that I am, I find it a tad bit funny. I know, I know—I do feel bad about having a chuckle over it. But actually, I respect the teacher’s decision. A little homework is not going to kill the boy and what’s the harm in a bit of math practice to keep the saw sharp? That should be a good thing. So I try to tell my son that his teacher really cares about him and doesn’t want him to back-slide during vacation. That she must truly love her students and that I truly support her practice of vacation math booklets.

He still thinks it’s a raw deal.

So I try to make it less raw. I take said son to Starbucks with me, let him order a large, whipped cream-capped hot chocolate and a muffin, then sit with him while he works on his math. I work on my editing or writing. We work together, sipping and scritch-scratching and having a special little outing. Yes, I know it’s not Disneyland, but I also think it’s not so bad. Know how I know? Because one of my other sons told me last weekend that he wanted to do his extra writing practice—which none of my other sons had—at Starbucks with a drink and a muffin of his own. “Just like you did with my brother, Mommy.”

Further proof that Mommy can make anything better.