On Monday, June 2nd, I attended an end-of-the-year picnic that Emmett’s elementary school holds annually. It was his antepenultimate day of school and, at 12:30, a bus drove the kids to a local city park, and I met them there. We had lunch, the kids played in a splash pool and on the playground and, as always, there were popsicles for everyone.
All the elementary school teachers were there, and some of the paras. A few other parents attended as well, including Emmett’s mom. And here’s the deal: His mom and I have been in attendance at every popsicle picnic since 2016, making this our 10th consecutive popsicle picnic. This is because we started attending when Isla was in kindergarten. For a couple years, both she and Emmett were in the elementary school. Then, once Isla moved on to middle school, we continued attending for Emmett. In fact, we’ve attended more than anyone else, because all the current teachers and paras weren’t there when Isla began kindergarten.
And…I gotta say…it was kinda sad. Emmett just turned 11, and now he’s done with elementary school. And I have no more little kids and I won’t be attending anymore popsicle picnics. It’s the end of an era! Lately, I’ve noticed how so many of the duties of parenting little kids have fallen away. For that, I’m happy – because I didn’t like some of it (I’m thinking of diaper changing here), and other parts of it got tiring (such as the need for constant supervision). So, really, I’m glad my kids aren’t little anymore. But some aspects of raising little kids were really great, and I will miss those – I already do miss those.
And I think the popsicle picnic essentially marked the last of the parenting-little-kids stuff that I ever get to do.