Who ever thought a Staples commercial could be so controversial?

You know the commercial I mean — With Andy Williams crooning that old holiday chestnut in the background (“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”), the parents are looking forward with great delight to kids going back to school. Meanwhile, the kids are sad.

I have discovered something about that commercial. No one feels lukewarm about it. You have the parents who hate the message it sends — that message that we all feel a bit uncomfortable about. Summer is hard. Kids are around, and it is hard for many to keep their professional lives going, let alone find day care and hold it all together. 

I have heard plenty of parents comment — rather passionately, I might add — how much they disagree with the Staples commercial. They mourn the end of summer and hate the loss of the relaxed, lazy summer routine. They don’t like the message of “Thank God the kids are going back to school.”  They couldn’t disagree more.

Then there is the second crowd. The commercial cracks them up because it so aptly describes their feelings. They are ready for a break, ready for routine.

I am a little chagrined to report that I am in the second group.

Let me be clear about this. I would like nothing better than to be in the first group.

I would love to be at that place in my life when summer truly was a relaxed time, a time spent near the pool and hanging out, going to the beach and going on a series of vacations.

But the reality is that many of us don’t have a choice. We have jobs. That means kids do indeed need day care. For me, it is sometimes particularly tough, since I am the lead child care provider and also run a business that requires plenty of time away from home.

Sure, my kids don’t do “day care” as much anymore. But they do a series of camps all summer long, mixed in with time at home. This summer, I tried to push my kids (14, 11 and 8) to more of an independent approach to summer.

Several times the kids took the bus to camps and classes (no small feat on Vashon). They spent a lot of time on their own at home. I traded endlessly on favors, asking friends to take them or pick them up. 

This was a work in progress. One time I was in Seattle and my two oldest children missed the bus and started walking a couple of miles home. I called the coolest neighbors ever, who hopped in their car and picked up my tired girls on the highway. I imagined how most of my friends might react to the two girls walking home on the highway alone.

Every time I find myself asking favors or taking an urgent call from a child while I am at a meeting or pasting together one week after another, I find myself increasingly frustrated and empathetic for moms everywhere.

Make no mistake, we are usually the lead child care provider. I know there are dads out there who do it, and I salute them wholeheartedly. But for many of us moms, it’s our job.

And many of us have tough jobs that we must do — bosses who want us, clients who demand our time, deadlines to meet while trying to give our kids a fun summer. It feels like a bit of magic sometimes, making it through summer.

I think I talk to my parents about this every summer. They were public school teachers. They didn’t have this madness of summer. I am a bit jealous of that. I know teachers have many, many challenges in their jobs. But time at home in the summer has to be the greatest blessing for teachers who are parents.

So here it is. School is back. Kids have their supplies and are off to school. I find myself smiling, knowing the tension will go down around me and my family. I can work again and find a way to do it without worrying about my children every day.

I see the Staples commercial and I chuckle. I, too, look forward to the fall routine, to the coming of predictability, to an earlier bedtime, to less stress.

Yet as I feel that, I struggle with guilt, with a cringe inside. Is there something wrong with me as a mom because I am happy to have my kids at school? Should I worry about having this feeling?

Wow. Who knew a commercial could bring all of that up?

— Lauri Hennessey runs her own public relations business.