40 Hilarious Thoughts All Moms Have At The End Of The School Year

Don’t know what 4th quarter parenting is? Soon, you’ll come across this term just about anywhere in between articles about parenting styles and parenting tips.

Basically, 4th quarter parenting refers to the very end of school year, those final weeks when everything is not technically over, but it should be because you’re so exhausted from all those mommy and daddy duties.

Breakfast, school runs, competitions, tournaments, and PTAs — you would just like to skip all that but it’s not impossible. The hashtag #4thqtrparenting is popular on Facebook and Twitter; you can find a lot of hilarious examples posted by parents who just can’t take it anymore.

Here are 40 hilarious #4thquarterparenting examples that will crack you up:

When you’re about to ask your kids if they have homework, but then realize you don’t really care. The school year’s almost over and your mind is already on a break. If they have homework, let’s assume they’ll do it.
Your child asks what are you making for a snack and you just give them the "death stare". Life is tough, little guy.
So, you tell your kid not to leave something on the floor or you’ll throw it out and they do it anyway. Usually, you would tell them again to pick it up and place it where belongs or you would issue yet another warning, but not this time. All these commitments with the school have drained the last atom of energy and you just pick it up and throw it outside. After all, if they leave it on the floor despite knowing there was a possibility of having their stuff thrown out, then they don’t even want or need it.
When your 7th grader heads to the school wearing same clothes he wore yesterday, instead of lecturing him you just shrug and say "At least wear a different jacket so it’s not that obvious". If nothing, less laundry for you!
Rather than fighting and negotiating with your daughter about brushing out weekend’s worth of tangles, you just make a bun and get it over with.
Math homework? How ‘bout no?! Here’s a calculator and help yourself. However, you would do it to figure out how much money to put in the lunch account for the last time.
Asking your child if they remember their reading logs only to realize "Why bother? I don’t care."
Signing the take-home folder for eight times at once so you don’t have to look at it for the rest of the year.
Your daughter doesn’t allow you to brush her hair, it’s a never-ending struggle. Usually, you have a lot of patience, the most important family and parenting skill, but this time you just give up and say: "Fine, you look demented and we will probably have to shave it off, but it’s your choice."
Your son’s uniform isn’t, actually, the cleanest and he has a game tonight. And then you just go: "Oh well."
Children say: "Mom, we’re starving, what did you make us for a snack?" And you just give them a spoonful of peanut butter. It’s protein, so basically, you’re giving them healthy food, right?
Your child’s backpack smells like old cheese and damp, but who cares? You’ll just burn it over summer and get him a new one.
Your son’s jeans look like capris now, but you’re not buying new ones because it’s almost summer. He won’t be wearing jeans anyway. Welcome to the Shire, Bilbo Baggins' house is that way.
Your daughter’s good school bra breaks but instead of buying her a new one, you get three swimsuit tops instead. She’ll spend more time at the beach this summer, so doesn’t even need a good bra anyway. You’re just being careful with finances.
Your son asks for clean underwear: "Just take out some underwear from your brother’s drawer."
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The school library sends overdue notices because you forgot to tell your kids to return their books weeks ago.
When your 10-year-old daughter says she’s done with spelling tests and worksheets for the year and you high-five her.
When you have no time or strength to do laundry so you just Febreeze your kids on the way out.
At the start of the school year: no phones and the internet on weeknights. End of school year: they’re connected to the Wi-Fi before even taking their shoes off.
"Mom, what’s for dinner?" Oh no, not this again! This expectation to eat dinner daily is so exhausting.
Water shoes count as shoes too.
When you give your child Cool Ranch Doritos for breakfast.
Your calendar is full of end of the year events and sports and you have no time to panic or experience your stress meltdown.
Your daughter says she needs a new box of "nice" pencils and you just start laughing. The school is almost over, chill.
When you sign all the school papers as Darth Vader and nobody even noticed it.
"What did you say? You need cupcakes for tomorrow? Well, how about you take a half-empty box of graham crackers from the last time we made s'mores?"
Fourth quarter parenting is when creative theme nights for dinner like No Meat Monday or Taco Tuesday have become Whatever We’ve Got in the Fridge
Wednesday and Fend for Yourself Friday.
Three-day weekends seem like God’s blessing. By the time they’re over, you’re almost" nice.
When you imagine all those Game of Thrones-like battle scenarios after receiving yet another email with a stupid sign up genius.
Your son says he needs a white shirt and black pants for orchestra and you hand him a white undershirt and his brother’s sweatpants. Sweatpants count as pants.
Your 3rd quarter self-promised to chaperone 4th quarter field trip and now you regret it. You want to slap the 3rd quarter self so hard.
It’s almost the end of school year so almost every store is out of the Lunchables. Nobody wants to make lunch these last few days, but now you have to….or maybe not. You just go to the next store, and next one, and next one until you find Lunchables.
The zipper on your child’s backpack broke but there’s no way you’ll get him a new one now when school is almost over. Turn around from time to time and see if anything fell out.
You’ve packed winter clothes and put summer stuff in kids’ closets. It gets cold again so you just give them your old parka or cardigans. Stop complaining, it will be warm again in a few days.
You have no patience for the Awards Banquet so you just play Candy Crush on your phone. It’s 3 hours long, nobody’s got time for that.
Your son’s white baseball pants have grass stains and you just say they’re perfectly fine for at least two more practices.
School’s Science Fair is scheduled for the last week of school. Oh, that’s perfect, so the science teacher hates me.
All white shirts have become gray or have a few stains. Just pretend those stains are polka dots.
Instead of making lunch, you just pack snacks. Treat yourself, little one.

Fourth-quarter parenting is that time of the year when school is almost over and you are simply exhausted.

Add your #4thquarterparenting thoughts to the discussion by using the hashtag.

Donna Begg is an expert editor, a mentor, analyst, and a researcher.

40 Hilarious Thoughts All Moms Have At The End Of The School Year

#4thqtrparenting

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