Survival Tip

I hope that my mistakes help others who are making the move from the city to the burbs. Here's my biggest learning for the month.

Once upon a time I really looked down on the whole carpooling thing. I mean it's work enough to get my own kids in and out of the car four to five times a day, let alone doing it for other people's kids. Last year,  I must admit I was a real city snob about the whole thing.

This year I thought I would give it a try because it really felt that other mothers were unto something.
Here's the reality, carpooling isn't about driving other people's kids around, it's about cutting down on your driving!  How cool is that? Trust me, anything that cuts down on my sitting behind a steering wheel is brilliant!

So here is how it's worked out thus far. Instead of schlepping my three kids to soccer practice, every single Tuesday from 5:30-6:30PM and returning home to rush three exhausted kids thru the dinner-bath-bed routine,  I carpool with two other mothers. Net, net I only have to  drive my kids plus two sweet boys to soccer practice once every three weeks! The other two weeks I'm at home hanging out with my other two kids.

Instead of driving my daughter every single Thursday to gym class, I do it every other week, giving me three extra  hours in the afternoon when it's not my turn.

You don't even need to know people well, all I did was shoot off an email to the soccer team's mothers and I got responses right away.

Trust me, if you move to the burbs and your kids have after-school activities, get yourself into a carpool! It will change you life!