The guessing game begins!
With the arrival of autumn comes skies that are half-sunny
and half-covered with black clouds. Should I dress the kids
in short sleeved shirts or coats? If the day warms up, they
invariable shed their coats at school where the garment
remains, for days or weeks, or they come home dragging their
(now tattered) mud covered coats on the ground.
I anticipate the great guessing game by stocking up on spare
coats from gemachs and friends who offer, which causes
a different problem. Two coats per child multiplied by seven
kids equals a serious lack of space! But even with all of my
attempted foresights, my seven-year-old daughter left two
coats plus her Shabbos coat at school. The next morning when
we woke up to a rain, I had to borrow a (fourth) coat from my
neighbor.
There's another problem. I wrap the little ones going to
playgroup snugly in their coats, hoods tied tightly against
the Tzefas chill and wind. Then it warms up and the little
angels come home in ninety-degree weather with their coats
on! Standard procedure in some playgroups and kindergartens
so that the coat won't get lost. I sympathize with the
teachers, but I sympathize more with my poor broiling
brood.
Now let's not forget the footwear. There are sandals, shoes
and boots. As far as I'm concerned, they should all wear
boots every day and there won't be any worries about wet
socks and cold feet (except for accidents...) but they have
minds of their own. If there's a single sunray, my little
ones beg and plead to wear sandals! "My feet get too hot in
boots and my shoes are wet from yesterday, and look! It's not
even raining. I won't go into any puddles, Ima. I promise!"
Such convincing arguments. Do I have time to use my hair
dryer to quickly dry out the shoes? On the other hand, it may
just warm up and it is good to get some air between
one's toes.
The next thing I know, I'm headed towards the corner to wait
for the bus, four little hands clutching the corner of my
blouse or my skirt. "Wait!" I yell. "Shloimy, you promised
not to jump into any puddles!" Too late. His socks are
drenched and here comes the bus. I'll have to ask my husband
to stop off at the school and change Shloimy's socks.
Sometimes I feel this guessing game is a game that I just
can't win. I actually look forward to the rigors of real
winter, since then I bundle the kids up and that's that!
On the other side of the coin (or the other side of the
orange fall leaf), when there's a warm morning, the kids go
to school with just windbreakers. My davening takes on
added dimensions of kavona as I fervently ask Hashem
to guard over my little ones and not let them get caught in a
flashflood and shiver their way through the school day.
Of course, there are the wool hats, earmuffs, and mittens to
contend with. The hats frequently cover the children's eyes,
which is hard for them to pull up because of the mittens. Or
the tie on the hat gets terribly knotted. Undoing multiple
knots is not my favorite activity two minutes before the bus
comes! Even though I do all the tried and tested tips of
friends and neighbors, like clipping or sewing the mittens
onto the sleeves, or tying a string to the mittens and
pulling them through the coatsleeves, it is still amazing how
often these things get lost, even partially, which makes no
difference.
So here I stand. The last school bus has turned the corner
and I wonder if my guesses will keep them warm, but not too
warm, throughout the day, and get them home intact. Sniffle,
sniffle. I think I'm catching the flu - achoo! Well look, I'm
only wearing a cotton blouse. I forgot to put on a sweater
and I've been standing out here in this drizzle for over an
hour, getting all the kids off to their respective buses.
Well, I better go home and put on something warm. Should I
wear my thick wool cardigan or my grey synthetic pullover? I
look up at the semi-overcast sky. Maybe a lighweight
turtleneck will be warm enough. But will I remember to take
it off when/if it gets too warm? Oh, well, I suppose I'll
just have to guess.
