Back To School Guilt Trip

Tonight is Back To School Eve at our house!

Yes, we do start school a lot earlier around here than most school districts, which means if you live in one of those later-starting areas, this post should serve as my warning or reminder to you — school is starting soon!

Last August, I was so prepared for the first day of preschool for Miles. It was our first experience with school, so I of course obsessed over every aspect of the big day. I took a ton of photos at his preschool Open House, used a printable photo checklist to make sure we got all of the cute First Day of School photos we could ever want, and the day was pretty wonderful, just a little overdone.

This year, unlike last year, I’m working full-time and now have TWO kids heading to school tomorrow. Fortunately for  us, the boys and I will all be at the same place all day — I work at their school. However, because I’m thinking about the first day of school from a school office staff perspective, I’m missing out on the mom perspective.

We do have all of the boys’ school supplies and have been reading lots of books to get ready, but I just feel like I’ve done nothing to start memorable traditions and make it special. At the school’s Back to School Night last night, I was busy with my Staff responsibilities and hardly saw my kids at all. Brandon managed to get the boys to their classroom meeting by himself (bless his heart!) and even get a few photos of them, and I have no idea what was said in the classroom meeting because I wasn’t around for it.

How much of this is Working Mom Guilt and how much is legitimate enough to think about? Probably the answer is that all of it is just Mom Guilt that I shouldn’t worry about, but  naturally that doesn’t stop me from feeling bad.

Teachers? Working Moms? What do you have to say on this matter? How do you juggle work responsibilities and those special Mom Moments, especially when your job puts you in the middle?