So here we are, while there is still a month until the calendar says summer has arrived, here in Central Florida the 75 days of summer break have arrived. I love those posts about how those of us who came of age in the bygone era of the ’70s and ’80s spent copious amounts of unscheduled and unsupervised time outside. They talk about how we made up our own games, rode our bikes, walked the neighborhoods looking for our friends, and drank from water hoses. We went away to sleep away camp and returned with crafted pot holders, camp fire stories and tales of the horror of being on kitchen duty. Did your summers as a child look like this? With some exceptions, many of mine did, and while I wish for similar experiences for my own children, I’m sure I am forgetting all kinds of problems and only thinking of the fun of freedom from schedules!
As a result of recognizing the overwhelming pattern of scheduling and over scheduling our lives in this day and age, I have spent the last few summers making sure there are limited amounts of must do items and lots of time for what do you feel like items. I would love to send the kids outside to make their own fun, but my kids make this difficult. One has developed an aversion to the sun (“It’s toooooooo hoooooot” he says) and the other has an aversion to being alone (“I want you to watch meeeee” she says)! What happened? When did they start to think I was in charge of their fun? It is all my fault and I am working to break the bad habit. Go entertain yourself, go find you own fun! So, I work on a here are things you can do, go do them and we will be accomplishing this scheduled item type of summer. The other thing I throw in are small school items to keep their growing brains from atrophy. The school items don’t always go over well, but hey, what kind of parent would I be if I didn’t upset the little darlings every once in a while?
So, think of us as we try to live peaceably over the 70 days of togetherness we have left. Let me know what kinds of activities you will be enjoying this summer.