Summer vacation is here and we are in that transition period between the end of school and the start of the summer activities we planned for the kids. My daughter started her rec program already but my boys are home until Friday when their ESY program starts so its been a little… um… hectic.
Started out the day by asking a child to get off my head so I could work. I then had to console the same child when he had a severe emotional response to finding that the toilet paper roll had been emptied and not replaced. To be fair, I’ve had the same response. We didn’t get much sleep last night so he is a little extra, um, sensitive. That means the rest of the day should be awesome. If awesome means you enjoy a lot of screaming. It remains to be seen who will scream more, me or him.
There are certain things I love about summer vacation and a few things I don’t. I love the more laid back atmosphere, less things I have to be on top of (sort of) as far as the day goes. I love days spent by the pond with friends and s’mores. I love s’mores. Oddly though, as much as I love a more relaxed schedule I do sort of hate the lack of structure. Weird right? Make up your mind, Amanda. Jesus. BUT I CAN’T.
Perhaps it’s the fact that my children are not yet of an age where they can plan their own time without yelling “I’m BORED!” every 26 seconds which means there’s a lot of mental gymnastics in trying to figure out how to keep them occupied. All the time spent at home during the pandemic has sort of made snacking allll damn day normal so I’m already adjusted to the constant request for food. It’s a fine line to walk letting them play independently and figure out how to entertain themselves and buying 20 lbs. of clay so that they will be entertained for 25 min and you can get some work done. Yes, I recently bought TWENTY POUNDS of clay. Fight me.
Hot, humid weather also turns me into a miserable, unmotivated blob. This adds to my failure to accomplish regular life sustaining chores so the whole thing gets a little out of hand. Thank goodness for air conditioning because I legit may accomplish ZILCH without it’s sultry hum of refrigerated breezes.
In a few days all the kids will be attending some form of enrichment for three hours in the morning which means we’ll only have half a day to fill vs. sun up to sun down. Bless the educators and counselors who take the time to build pipe cleaner art and keep my kids minds fresh over the summer break, you’re the real MVPs.
What do you do over the summer? Do your kids go to camp? Do you spend every waking moment with them? Do you want a mug or something? Because I have 20 lbs of clay.