Does Summer Need a Schedule?
Anyone else a few weeks into summer and already looking ahead to the next school year? Nah, just me?
My kids have been out of school now for a few weeks and although it’s been so nice in many ways, it has also stressed me out considerably more than I usually am. My husband and I both work from home, but since his schedule can be a bit more structured than mine and he often has full days where he cannot come out of his office, a lot of the the kid “stuff” falls on me.
Our first two weeks have consisted of my kids sleeping in until completely different times. My son likes to get up earlier and quietly so he can sneak into the playroom and watch whatever he wants on TV without his sister’s input. About two hours later, my daughter usually has to be woken up out of her possible-til-noon slumber because well, we do have limits here, even if it is summer vacation.
About the time my daughter is shuffling into the playroom to watch some TV, my son is hungry for breakfast. He comes downstairs and usually can get something for himself as long as I’m okay with just cereal or frozen waffles for breakfast. Every. Single. Day. Sigh. When my daughter finally decides she’s hungry for breakfast, it’s actually lunchtime. This makes it almost impossible to have set breakfast/lunch times during the day, but I just don’t have the energy to push anything else. I find myself tending to just shrug and say “It’s summer! Who cares?” But I care. And my sanity cares.
After both kids get breakfast/lunch/some sort of food, it’s creeping into afternoon and the TV eventually gets turned off. At this point, they start asking to use other screens. Laptops, gaming consoles, tablets. Around and around we go. I’m still trying to figure out my limit with these. The first couple weeks of summer weren’t very nice weather-wise and it was hard to keep them entertained.
Luckily the weather has started to warm up and dry out so I’m going to start booting the kids outside to ride bikes, dig up salamanders, and jump on the trampoline. What are your kids doing outside and to keep busy?
Finally, it comes down to camps, camps and more camps. My son has basketball, football and a baseball camps this summer. My daughter is doing a soccer camp. Both of them will be doing another summer camp later on in August. Hopefully a mix of all these activities can keep them busy and give mom and dad time go get their work done. The challenge is actually getting them to these camps when we still have to find time to work.
Which brings me straight to the mom guilt. The ever present mom guilt that is a special version when it’s summertime. When I ask the kids what they want to do with their days, they say things like go to the waterpark or the activity center. Sigh. Mom has to work. It’s such a hard thing when you need to work but they see you home and think you’re available to go do things.
My hope is that we are still just working out the kinks in this new normal for our family. How’s your summer “break” going so far? Are you finding a balance between structured activities and the easy breeziness of summer days?
