Schools out for summer! Congratulations, moms and dads, caretakers of every kind – we did it! Another school year in the books. Another year of car rider line, endless practices and games, messy mornings, mayhem, tired-kid attitude, burnout, and the beautiful chose that comes with raising children. All in the name of education. We did it!
And our kids did it, too. They survived the “Maycember” activities, state testing, student drama, exhaustion, hormones, shifting friendships, and all the stretching that happens academically, emotionally, and socially during a school year. We all made it to the finish line, and that deserves a moment of appreciation.
Now, everything shifts… again.
Schedules change. Responsibilities change. The grocery bill doubles. Laundry multiplies overnight. (I’m still trying to figure out how that even happens.) In our house, we loosen up on bedtimes during the summer, which means at any point in time, be it 9:30pm or 1:00am, there may or may not be a teenager pilfering through the pantry for a late-night snack.
Social calendars ramp up, too, and suddenly the front door becomes a revolving door of kids coming and going – sometimes with friends you know, and sometimes with ones you’ve never seen before.
This is my sixth year as a bonus mom to our big kids, and I feel like I’ve finally got a grip on the summer madness. Every year I have a better idea of how it will go and how to manage the chaos, and though every year I learn new ways of efficiency, I have a solid list of things that maintain some structure while still embracing the fun.
Call it a Parent’s Guide to Summer Break:
•Create a summer break staple item grocery list – ask the kids for input on quick meals and snacks they want to keep in stock at all times – and then buy multiples because they will disappear faster than you think.
•Designate a place in your home for backstock. Summer living requires bulk quantities on almost everything.
•Create a simple daily task list for each child to help manage the messes that inevitably create stress. Remind everyone that we are a team, our home belongs to the team, is lived in by the team, and cared for by the team. Everyone can contribute in some way.
•Schedule FUN on purpose! Keep a running list of parks, water parks, restaurants, trails, or activities to try. When everyone needs a break from home, visit a place on your list. On our family calendar, I highlight the “fun” activities in purple so the kids have something to look forward to, and we can look back on all the scheduled joy we had over the summer.
•Make a summer bucket list. On the first day of summer, we typically create a bucket list of things the kids desire to do. They write those things, and they check them off if/when they are completed. This year, I’m going to ask them if there is anything they’d like to learn? Maybe it’s a new hobby, skill, or brand-new experience?
•Before bed every night, “put the house to sleep.” Spend ten minutes tidying up, throw the vacuum in the pool and for the love of all things holy, don’t forget to hang the pool towels up to dry!
Summer break is wild in our house. We stretch the days out as far as we can. We chase whimsy and adventure while still managing some semblance of order and consistency. Every night, we collapse into the bed exhausted, and I expect this summer to be no different.
However, this is the summer that holds a lot of change in the horizon. Our oldest gets his driver’s license next month. Our middle girl goes to high school in the fall. Our little one heads to preschool for the very first time in September.
Life is shifting again and I find myself holding tightly to this short season before everything changes. Eventually, we’ll embrace all the newness once we get there, but for now, I’ve decided to schedule as much joy as possible.
And when summer ends, we’ll look at each other once again and say, “We did it.”
-by Destini McPherson
Be the first to comment