Well, Joshua’s not even technically out of school yet (his last day is tomorrow) and I already can’t wait for it to start again. The big kids are at a point where the dynamic betwixt them is very difficult to bear. Joshua delights in letting Sophie know how stupid she is and in getting on her nerves, and Sophie delights in screaming like a banshee and grossly overreacting to everything that he does. OH, and Joshua also delights in tattling on Sophie who delights in doing whatever-the-hell-she-wants-no-matter-what-her-mom-told-her. As you can imagine the tattling also sends Sophie into hysterics.
And all these hysterics from them send me into hysterics of my own.
I’ve made very few plans, besides buying a pool pass to the local pool, which I hate, to survive this summer. I really do not like being on the go that much and three days a week at the pool is about all I can stand. I have no money for kids camp or a nanny. I also apparently, have no mothering skills for navigating this time in our lives.
When I was a kid, my mom had a job and my dad was a teacher so he was home with us in the summer, but he was constantly building something so you know, if we got on his nerves he could just hammer something. And anyway, we were free to run around our very safe neighborhood and come home when we were hungry for a JELL-O Puddin’ Pop and then leave again for hours on end, so I think it was just an easier time to be a parent. This is not the world I live in. Partly because of choices we’ve made that are for our family and partly because the world is just not as nice and safe and easy now as it was thirty years ago.
So, what will we do this summer to pass the time? I think I’m about to go sign my kids up for every possible daytime VBS in our area. Well, every daytime VBS run by good Christians that is. I’d like the kids to stick with Jesus and all. I LOVED VBS as a kid and Joshua and Sophie loved it last summer. They can have fun, be apart from each other, and learn about Jesus. And Jonah and I can have some alone time. Win-Win-Win-Win. Yep, VBS and the pool. Children’s museum once or twice…I don’t know what else. I still have toddler nap times to work around!
I’m sure you all judge and/or hold me in contempt, but I am not looking forward to this summer at all. But hey, I’m going to be in LA for the first three official days of break! Which means my official summer with the kids will start with jet lag, but I think it’ll be worth it. And I’m setting my expectations for the summr low, so they’re sure to be exceeded, right!? RIGHT!!????
How are you keeping your kids busy this summer?
I am keeping my kids busy this summer by making them work for a living, they’re adults, ya know. And of course adding a great amt. of guilt since they both moved out of state. Come to think of it, “judge not, lest ye be judged” comes into play…you know you’re a terrible parent when your kids move out of state!
I’m sure the Summer will go better than you think. I loved VBS, and that banshee business needs to be nipped in the bud!
Oh, yes, just look how handy you made your dad, he can fix anything – with a hammer. You could learn to build!!
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And, this is why we need to get our kids together about once a week during the summer. We can put them on the gated deck at our house and watch them through the sliding glass door (with the a/c on full blast) while they dump water on each other until their hearts are content, fight over ride-on cars, and make as much noise as possible; Our plan is to suck down soda, cupcakes, and Cadbury Eggs amidst the chaos. The good news is, when all that chaos is over, it’s nap time. Thank goodness for nap time.
YOU ARE ON! Let’s set a date when I get back from LA!
As a kid I was at Grandma Brads’s house over the summer until I was 8 and after that I was home by myself during the day. Being weird, I liked it that way! Do you have a relative you can pack one or both of the big kids off to for a week? I went to my cousins in KY for 2 weeks every summer and essentially annoyed someone else’s mom. I imagine it was as awesome for my mom as it was for me!
I’m going to spend my summer getting my oldest ready for college and trying not to burst into tears at the thought of it. After having mine home for school pretty much their whole school career, I’m going to miss having one of them around like crazy. I had no summer breaks. School morphed into summer and then back to school. And I loved it. My kids learned rather quickly that they’d darn well better get along with each other or they wouldn’t have a playmate. Now they are so close that one going to college is going to rip the other’s heart out. Last time I heard tattling–probably 2001. Last time I heard a banshee scream—probably 1999.
I HIGHLY recommend finding a church doing the Entrusted with a Child’s Heart study. I agree with the above commenter–nip the banshee screaming in the bud. But also nip the tattling in the bud. And calling each other stupid–totally not acceptable. Entrusted is an amazing study, all biblically based, that will challenge you to raise your kids for Jesus. Start now or it’s only going to get worse. 🙂
Well you and I are clearly cut from different cloth. And Joshua doesn’t call Sophie stupid, if he did he’d be dead. He just has to constantly correct her and let her know how much right-er he is than she is. We are working with both of them on what they need to correct. But of course it is a process.
And my brother who used to torture me and I are very close, and have been since I was about 14 and he was 18. But that’s a long way from now in my kids’ lives!
The hardest thing I ever did was leave my youngest at college. I cried from Nashville to the Tennessee state line.
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LOL. I felt the same way when I took my oldest to college. If campus police hadn’t been parked in front of the dorms, I’d have peeled out of there in my minivan blasting music on the stereo and trying not to sprain my face by smiling so much.
This is hilarious! I feel the same way. My daughter is 6 and my son is 3. They tease each other relentlessly. The end of the school year is bittersweet. I’m ready for the end of packing lunches, but I’m dreading keeping them busy all summer in a let’s-not-fight-and-scream-all-day-long sort of way. We’ve got passes to the local amusement park (Christmas gift from the grandparents) and plan to do some playdates and picnics. We made a summer bucket list last year and I plan to do one this year too. It was helpful in finding ideas for distraction when I was at the end of my rope. I hope you have a good summer. You are not alone, sista! 😉
Pack them up and take them to the park or even the school playground. Those are free and they can run like crazy. Then they’ll be too tired to fight or be upset! I also think VBS is a good idea.
My 17 year old said yesterday that she’s already bored. Her last day of school was Friday. She’s in for a long summer but I did buy a cheap bowling pass that she can use with her friends.
this is why I want to schedule a get together with kids!! so we can hang and our kiddos can entertain each other with farting and even Jesus. My kids can throw in a little on Israel.
Honestly — these few months seem endless when there is no camp, preschool, etc BUT NOW I yearn for those days —- soak them up like the sun b/c before you know it, they have friends and lives and cel phones.
R
Ok maybe with the big kids, but not the baby!! I spaced that kid way too far apart. And we also love Israel around here. All the good Bible stories are in the Old Testament!
Thanks for being so honest! It’s refreshing. I’m also not looking forward to summer much either. I have 5 kids, and one more due in July. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. We don’t have the money for summer camps or memberships. We do VBS as well and have had great experiences! We use the library programs frequently and my kids love to read. Which is a blessing! I just don’t want them parked in front of the tv all day or to hear those dreaded two words, “I’m bored.” Pinterest has been a really helpful tool to find cheap/free activities to engage my kiddos. They all enjoyed playing with a cookie sheet full of baking soda and colored vinegar to make mini volcanos using medicine droppers.
Times like these do make me want to consider a year-round school system! And I work! But sorting out and keeping track of our patchwork system of childcare for my two girls is about to drive me over the edge! And then here is my fine state of Alabama they decided about a month ago not to allow schools to start back for two additional weeks which means more $$$ on childcare and more headaches over arrangements to keep up with, but whatever…
To keep my older daughter busy on the days she spends at her grandmother’s house I am sending a few sheets from workbooks for her to do so she can keep up her math and language skills. She is also taking an age appropriate (she’s 7) chapter book with her everyday. She earns a bonus 50 cents with her allowance for the books she completes, so that’s been a great bribe – sorry, motivator – for her. We’re also planning weekend trips to the “good” library in the city and a homemade picture diary of things to remember from her summer.
I like the idea of getting a big white board and a map pin pointing all VBS’s within a grid with their dates, times and denominations (lest we send our girls in shorts to the Baptists) in a color code…. Then we all get together at the end and give ratings to be included in next year’s strategies… Ok, just kidding, but you know I’m on the VBS my kids wagon…. 🙂
You loved VBS because ours was the best ever!
Well, Faith is at Math Camp (compliments of my “inner city” school district) for the next three weeks.
Lucy has Camp Innovation (also compliments of my “inner city” school district) this week.
Next week Faith is going on her first mission trip to Cleveland, while Lucy has church camp. Faith has another week of church camp in July, followed the following week by Camp Grandma.
So… I’m all about ditching my kids as much as possible as well.
I am an awful summer mom. We all cried a lot last summer because I yelled too much. I am determined to make this summer better but that is a pretty low bar. I’ve tried to sketch out a little plan to keep them entertained and me sane. It involves the library, the pool, the backyard playset, and $1 movies. Hoping I can manage to get that to resemble fun.
Ha, when I was about halfway through this post, I was going to suggest VBS, but you are apparently all over that! That is our main plan for this summer! Gotta love that it’s like free camp with a healthy dose of Jesus! The only problem is that so many churches are having evening ones, but what I really need is to keep these kids busy during the DAY!
Also I signed my son up for swim lessons at the Y which was reasonably cheap. It’s only a half-hour a day for 2 weeks, but I’m sure we can make it take an hour-and-a-half of our day to accomplish it.
Free movies at The Greene! I think it starts next week. Go to Wegerzyn Gardens. It’s free and fun for all kids:-)
And playdates, playdates, playdates! And find a new (but old & regular) pool!!!!
Can I please just echo that I find this post so refreshing? I always grit my teeth a little when I read the chirpy blog posts about summertime over and over and over. I think those women are on some serious valium or something, you know? I have to work until June 22nd, and then I’m keeping my son in the Y camp three days a week for three more weeks so I can get some writing projects done that have deadlines. Since we already signed up for it before I decided to take the rest of the summer off before I go back to college – I decided to keep that kid in there.
Last summer, we utilized the pool, took small day trips around the area, played outside, and worked on reading skills. We also watched a lot of tv and played on the computer a lot. A lot. This summer he’s a pretty heavy duty reader so I imagine there will be a lot of that going on. He already told me that sprinklers are ‘lame’. Dammit.
I have to tell you my kids go to a year round school so they only have 7 weeks of and I work full time but I am definitely ready for them to go back to school at the end of 7 weeks. My youngest will go to daycare because I cant trust him home with the others but my older 2 will be at home and they will have a chore list every day. Oh I am thinking my house might be cleaner this summer than its been for a while. So I am kinda looking forward to that aspect of summer break. If they whine that they are bored I will just add some more chores to their list. Sounds like a good plan to me!
The word has definitively moved on. I used to get dropped off at the pool for swim practice then at the end of the day, meet my parents for dinner at the clubhouse. I can’t even imagine doing that with my kids. What my wife did is posted a spreadsheet in the kitchen with lots of free/inexpensive ideas to do with the kids. It helps that we are outside of DC and there is so much that is publicly funded. But of course we joined to local pool for the same reasons.
I just read your post about the pool. I have to tell you, I was in your position 4 years ago (age wise of my kids). Even before this said ‘pool’ made it’s waterpark-like changes, I was overwhelmed. There was just so much area and not enough “me” to go around. I was done after a couple visits and didn’t go back. I can only imagine it is ten times worse now. So, we joined an old-school pool right around the corner from my house and I LOVE it. This will be our third year there. I can locate my children from the comfort of my chair (if I’m not in the water with them) in a matter of 10 seconds vs. 10 minutes. Lots of times, simpler is better! Hope you can get your money back if you are wanting to.