Kids look forward to summer vacation all throughout the school year. Parents love the idea of getting to spend a bit more time with the kids, perhaps envisioning backyard barbecues and trips to places like the zoo or a local museum. Summer vacation can start to feel a little stressful though after only a couple days when you don’t have a plan of action. Kids start to fuss about being bored and entertainment demands and expenses can get overwhelming.
After only a week or two mom and dad may be wondering what the heck they had been looking forward too in the first place because all they seem to hear is “I am bored!” or the kids are all fighting.
We had a really tough transition time this summer. Right as school let out we moved. So my two oldest kids had to deal with not only being home 24/7 but also being in a new city, away from all their friends and closest relatives. I know I often blog about the good times but it is only fair that I share the not-so good times and in the past few weeks I think we all reached the boiling point in our realm of the woods.
My oldest son has already butted heads with one of the families in our new area. I think they really resent the fact that my son (almost nine) is allowed to roam. This family keeps their kids hidden away as virtual prisoners. And no doubt this has caused problems in their household. My son rode his bike over to their house a couple times and stopped to ask if the kids could play and the father of the family came over to my house screaming like a banshee that I need to control my son and that no child should be able to roam around like that. He insisted that he “could have” run him over since he wasn’t expecting a child to be in front of his house. I was so shocked by his outburst I just let him rant and then smiled and shut the door. If I would have had a minute to digest what he was saying he would’ve gotten the finger too. I mean if you are going to come see a new neighbor and be a jerk at least make sure you have a valid complaint. I am not one of those parents that thinks the sun shines out of my kids arse but neither do I nitpick over little stuff.
Anyway, now their kids are apparently not allowed to associate with that wild child who is actually …GASP… allowed to ride his bike around the entire neighborhood!!! I feel sad for his kids. But not too much because now they are taking cues from their dad and being rude to my son for no reason.
In addition to being lonely without any of their old friends around, they miss their grandparents, who now live 1.5 hours away. They miss their old yard with a small wooded area, their play set, etc. Our old house was huge and they had their own space far away from siblings if need be. The new house is tiny and we are all thrown together quite cozily.
So when the kids started fighting like cats and dogs and totally dragging the family into some deep dark abyss and I started getting hives from the stress, I knew I had to do something drastic and that is why I haven’t blogged here in nearly a week. I decided I really need to take the summer off and devote my time and energy to making this transition as pain free as possible. This means not leaving them to their own devices but making sure they have plenty of structured, fun, play opportunities.
So starting this week our schedule looks much different. 2 days a week we are going to the zoo or the science museum. 5-6 days a week we go the local pool for swimming, sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the early evening. 1-2 mornings a week we go to free summer movies days that two chain theatres in our area are having. 1-2 days we also go hiking in one of the metro parks. The kids are being kept busy and entertained much of the time and that has helped a lot already. Early bed times due to exhaustion has been nice except mom also goes to bed early from exhaustion, LOL.
At first I resisted such an action packed schedule and was telling a friend of mine that I couldn’t devote the summer to entertaining them since I work from home, blah, blah, blah. And she just said point blank.. “And why do you work from home?”
“Uh well… cause I want to spend time with my kids… oh dagnabit you are right! I am making lame excuses.”
The fact is that it is summer time and they need me. They need me because they moved away from all their friends and their nana and papa. They need me because they are having trouble making news friends. They need me because we moved from our heaven on earth 2.5 acre plot to a teeny city lot. They need me to make this transition easier on them and I am in a position to devote my entire summer to making sure they have fun all day every day if needed. And with balancing free activities along with discounted season pass rates for other stuff we can afford all the activity too. Maybe in a few weeks I won’t be so exhausted anymore either…. that way I can get better about blogging in the evenings or early morning. ;)
What do think? Do you devote time to making sure your kids are entertained in the summer months or do you usually let them be self reliant?
