Once upon a time, my children had a one hour delay to school. Our normal frantic schedule was forgotten. It was so civilized! I had my coffee and watched the news alone. Did you hear me? ALONE!!! It truly was a fairy tale. I didn’t have to drag them out of bed while it was still dark outside. No one ate breakfast in the car.
In the intervening year or so since this miraculous, magical day, there have been other occasions for a later morning: a 9:00 pediatrician appointment, waiting for AAA to change a flat tire, or just letting them sleep in because I could tell they were getting run down. Each and every time, it was an astonishing experience. We were all happier, calmer, better rested, and more willing to face the little upsets that are part of every day.
This got me thinking about why we live the way we do. We are the masters of our own civilization. Contrary to how we may feel most of the time, we actually ARE in charge of the way our world works. For example, we’ve all seen the research about later school start times improving educational focus, and yet, the most movement I’ve experienced is opening bell moving from 7:45 to 8:00. The research is pretty clear that 15 minutes isn’t going to meet the goal.
Of course, the issue is, in part, that wicked witch known as the American workday. Parents have to get to work and so the kids have to be dropped off early. With increasing commute times across the nation, the school start isn’t early enough for many, necessitating even earlier “before care” programs. So I understand why it is the way it is on some level, but I’m still left wondering why we are doing this to ourselves in the first place.
Technology has enabled so many people to work flexibly and/or work from home. I personally love that I get to design my days and am largely in control of my work schedule. However, I’m not in charge of the school schedule, but collectively, we all are on some level. Obviously completely overhauling the public education system is a lofty goal, but we’ve worked with this system for so long, and it’s not perfect. I will also confess to a bit of mutiny: if I think my kids need to sleep in, we sleep in. If my option at 7:14 is to yell and scream at my children to ensure an on-time 7:15 departure or to be late and skip the tantrum, we’re late. My daughter’s extreme list of tardies on her most recent progress report was like a badge of honor to me if I’m being honest.
As a former teacher, I hate to advocate for this behavior. I know how disruptive it was to me when students filed in late during 1st period. I’m classic #sorrynotsorry.
That said, I would love to see us as a society reevaluate how we spend our very limited time on this earth. In our quest to accumulate more wealth and more things, what are we sacrificing? And if accumulating more wealth and more things are important to you, is there any reason you have to begin this task at 7:00 a.m.?
I don’t know how we got to where we are, but these glimpses into a more humane schedule make me wish for a fairy godmother to come down, wave her wand, and redo the fabric of American society. We really do deserve a happily ever after, and we are the ones writing this story after all.
