The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1071678
The Press-Dispatch School Wednesday, Januar y 16, 2019 C- 11 SCHOOL NEWS? Email: schoolnews@pressdispatch.net DO YOU HAVE Petersburg Elementary MENU Thursday, January 17: Spaghetti with sauce, meat- balls, garden salad, broccoli florets, twisted garlic bread- stick and fruit. Friday, January 18: Ham and cheese stuffer, tater tots, green beans and fruit. Monday, January 21: NO SCHOOL. Tuesday, January 22: Soft taco, lettuce, tomatoes, re- fried beans and fruit. Wednesday, January 23: Beef and noodles, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, roll and fruit. Mrs. Knust's second grade class received handmade ornaments and cards from their e-pals in France. Pictured are: Ky Green, Kynslee Woods, Tatum McNally, Taylor Russell, Kasey Stevens, Colin Boyd, Infinity Ising, Trevor Smitson, Daxyn Yon, Grayson Schultheis, Jenna Harris, Sophia Johnson, Hannah Lee, Makayla Kapp and Lakai Naranjo. Fifth grader Seth Fulk talks with Coach Bradley Fredrick during a timeout on January 4. The elementary boys' and girls' basketball teams from Peters- burg and Winslow met up to play each other in front of their peers at PES. Petersburg fifth grade cheer squad are ex- cited to start the game between the Petersburg and Winslow Elementary boys' basketball teams. Cheer squad members are (facing camera, l to r): Kylee Weathers, Emily McGillem, Danielle White, Danyella Pride, Lucy Yon and Abby Boyd. Kindergarteners sing to Aden. Tucker Loveless played his violin during music class recently. First grader Hanna Dent spent her Chief Tickets to help in the cafeteria. First grader Camden Weisman also helped in the cafeteria. First grader Bryleigh Fox helped in the cafete- ria. Katiedid vs... by Katiedid Langrock Cruising with kids I am starting off 2019 with my dream job. It is the unexpected-but-al- ways-hoped-for whipped-cream-and- cherry-on-top gig, granted after 14 years of my paying my screenwriting dues. The workload is intense, the ac- celerated timeline nearly impossible, but the experience is a gift. One of the more challenging aspects of this job is the quantity of hours it keeps me from my children. So, like any well-adjusted parent with a few sur- prise extra bucks in her pocket, I am buying their love back with a guilt pur- chase — in this case, a cruise. It was a whim purchase, charged to a credit card without nearly the suffi- cient amount of thought one should put in prior to planning a vacation for four. In my urgency, a cruise seemed the perfect remedy to reunite a family that has been under the stresses of a miss- ing-in-action mama. It'll be 24 hours a day of family togetherness! No meal cooking to pull me away, no errands or car pools to stress over. Just the four of us sleeping in until 10 a.m., catching a late brunch and hanging by the pool. Just the four of us playing bingo and a few hands of blackjack and getting all fancy for a formal dinner. Just the four of us watching a comedy skit, danc- ing at the disco and catching the mid- night buffet. But then, well after purchasing my nonrefundable cruise, I remembered that one of the four of us is under 4. The other is just 6. The cruise experience in my head crashed into the cruise ex- perience of our reality. Though the kids' dance moves are indisputably better than mine, I'm guessing our fellow seafarers wouldn't ap- preciate overtired tantrums in the midnight buffet line after disco-fever munchies take hold. And if you can't have barbecue chicken sal- ad served to you on the back of an ice sculpture swan at 12:13 a.m., why even bother cruising at all? Midnight buffet or bust. I have cruised before, but never with children. I am very famil- iar with mom guilt and have been a chronic sufferer of the absent-minded mom brain for a long time now, but I didn't know that mom brain can be a symptom of mom guilt until I booked a cruise without a moment's thought. How does one cruise with children at night? The rooms are tiny, and my kids go to bed at 8 p.m. Do we then go to bed at 8 p.m., too? Does one parent get to sneak out to watch the newlywed game and "A Rockin' Revisiting of Mu- sic and Dance of the '70s — Stage Edi- tion" alone? Do we fall asleep with the kids and set an alarm for the midnight buffet and take turns waking up, gorg- ing our faces and going back to bed? How does one cruise with children in the morning? My kids are up by 6:30 a.m. at the latest. Undoubtedly, there is an early-riser buffet, but other than that, it appears that only the gym will be open. Folks tend to frown on par- ents throwing their 3-year-olds onto treadmills. What will we do all morn- ing before the pools open and the en- tertainment begins? Do people cruise with lit- tle ones? In the film "Titanic," the only children I saw on the ship were sharing a bunk bed with their mom as the water rose around them. Granted, this may not be the best example, but it's the on- ly film I've ever seen about a cruise ship. All in all, I'm drowning in my sinking feeling long before our ship is to set sail. I'm thinking about the shows we'll miss, the food we'll miss, the activities we'll miss, the dancing we'll miss, the lack of Leonardo DiCaprio. How does one cruise with children? I asked my children this question. They didn't seem concerned. Play "di- nosaur," my son suggested, a game he made up in which we each pretend to be a prehistoric lizard. "You said the boat will be big. So we'll have lots of room to run around and attack one an- other." He's not wrong. The spur-of-the-moment booking will fulfill my desire to spend 24 hours a day with the people I love without the stresses of cooking, cleaning and to-do lists. Anything else will be the unexpected whipped cream and cher- ry on top. Let the SS Mommy Guilt set sail. Like Katiedid Langrock on Facebook, at facebook.com/katiedidhumor. 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