Monday, September 14, 2015

filling (killing) time

Now that Elliott will be going to preschool two mornings a week, I find myself in need of ideas to fill (kill) time between dropping Nico off at his school at 7:55 and dropping Elliott off at his at 8:30. E's school is maybe five minutes away from N's, if I hit all the red lights. He's also not allowed to go into his classroom before 8:30, so there's no early-arrival option. On Tuesday last week we tried to use up the time by driving out to the second-farthest Starbucks, but the drive-thru line was so long that we wouldn't have made it back in time. On Thursday I doubled back and ran an errand to my mom's. All the practical places I may need to go on a weekday (bank, pharmacy, library, post office) don't open until 9:00. If I get groceries I have to lug anything cold into work with me for the day. I really should not go to Target two mornings a week, plus E and I already make a 45 minute dash-and-grab Target trip on Mondays to kill time between N's 7:55 school drop-off and E's 9:00 music class. Target three times a week would be a financial disaster.

I had the thought that I could put a basket of books and coloring supplies in my car for him for the mornings, but I feel like that might eat into his limited supply of sitting-still juju for the day. Elliott would love to sit in the hall outside his classroom and watch YouTube videos on my phone, but that seems like a lame way to blow our screen time budget. I would love to sit in the car and read a book of my own for 30 minutes, but that seems unfair to E. He would enjoy playing on the playground at preschool, but the slides and swings are always covered in dew that early in the morning. Perhaps I should just start taking along an extra pair of pants and a towel, which would solve our problem at least until December or January when it finally gets cold. Maybe on rainy days I can let him run laps in the gym before we go to his class.

I am a natural multi-tasker and time-gap-exploiter, so having a usable chunk of time that I can find absolutely nothing to do with is kind of bugging me. Plus I don't want to hand off an already-bored, already-crabby Elliott to his sainted teachers. First world problems, I have them!


3 comments:

  1. This reminds me of interesting post I came across on FB about all this supposed "leisure time" women have, when you are actually place-holding for other things...
    There ya go! Had to look up the link:
    http://m.dailylife.com.au/health-and-fitness/dl-wellbeing/brigid-schulte-why-time-is-a-feminist-issue-20150309-13zimc.html

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  2. I had exactly the same problem with my two kids - the big boy's class started at 8.15, the little one didn't start until 9, and I had this awkward chunk of time to fill and nowhere was open except for Starbucks and Target. I used to go for a walk with him when the weather was nice, but often I'd wind up just sitting in my car reading 'Elephant and Piggy' books while he tried to do bored backflips over the seat. It was annoying, but it only lasted for a year.

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  3. maybe you guys can just park somewhere and "go for a walk" until going to school? I know you have access to MUCH MUCH cooler places to walk, but maybe it could be a bonding time to talk and look around? you could walk at a different place each time?

    if you did have to sit and wait, i suggest knitting/crochet. it's the best.

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