I always loved it when the school year finished and we had a whole two months of lazy summer days. We sent the kids to camp, Outward Bound was always a July thing for the boys, just the once, though, then they'd go off to badminton, sailing, tennis camp for a few weeks. We'd spend time at the cottage where I'd take them every day to swimming lessons at The Blue Dolphin swimming pool in nearby Meaford, tend to the little garden we planted with raspberry canes, plums, apples, potatoes, blackberries and pears. It was a glorious era.
Don't wish these summers away, Tina. Before you know it, they'll all be in college, off school for 4 months, madly scrambling off to work at 7 a.m., and those lazy old days will seem like heaven. Then they move out. You find a little dream house to turn into a treasure chest with only your favourite things and they move back in with all the debris and paraphernalia of young men, make a mockery of your pretty family room with beer bottles and dirty socks, so you rearrange everything to accommodate them and next thing you know, they're moving out again....
Our house was the one where everyone played all summer long. My next-door-neighbor has six kids (A couple of them with kids of their own now); their youngest son was my son's best friend, so Matt practically LIVED here! I told his dad one year that we were going to begin taking him as a tax deduction. LOL...
His older sister, the next youngest, played with my oldest daughter. However, a couple of the other sisters used to come over too, as sort-of a package deal, and the oldest son liked our dog (they didn't have one), so he frequently came over too. About the only one of the six who didn't join in was the oldest sister.
On MOST summer days, I usually had NO FEWER than seven children in my back yard, but when other friends from down the street joined in, there were more.
I loved it! Not only did I get to watch everyone's fun, I also knew everything that was going on.
Our two oldest ones were on swim team, but we weren't rabid about it (or any other sport for that matter) like many other parents in our area. We thought that their participation would improve their swimming skills, while giving them a bit of fun and competition, and their friends we on the team anyway too, so they wouldn't have been able to play during practice times, etc., etc. However, we didn't put them in winter swim with the 4:00 a.m. practices.
Otherwise, our summers were spent in a very old-fashioned way. We hung up a tacky tire swing in the front yard -- yes we DID -- and all the kids lined up to play on it. No other family was gonna have one of those hanging out front, but we didn't care. For years, there was no grass in that one patch, under the tire. LOL! Didn't matter, that that once-naked patch is quite lush now, so who cares???
I made gallons of lemonade, served up popsicles which meant that the kids were perpetually sticky, and listened to the back door constantly slam as the kids came in and out to use the bathroom, find a toy to take outside, announce that they were hungry/hot/thirsty, or seek a remedy for some minor injury, beesting, or injustice.
Each day after lunch, I enforced two hours of quiet time. Playmates were sent home, mine were put down for naps (depending on ages), or alone time in their own rooms. I put my own feet up, and watched my soaps, or maybe napped myself! Everyone knew that no playmates were allowed to ring the doorbell again until 3:00 pm. It was a good rule because it gave everyone some cooling off time, and got the kids out of the worst part of the day's heat. It also gave mom a little time to collect her wits again before round two!
In the evenings, Jim and I would sit out on our back deck with a glass of something while the kids would get themselves filthy playing commando. This game entailed their trying to get past Jim and me, unnoticed, from one end of the backyard to the sandbox-with-fort at the other end. (Our son finally figured out that he needed to wear something other than a bright white shirt which tended to call attention to his movements.) They dashed, crawled, and belly-slithered, but the most consistently successful kid was our neighbor's son, Matt, who apparently had the ability to make himself invisible. He's now a Fairfax County police officer!
We set up the sprinkler, and the kids jumped through it. We set up the slip-n-slide, and the kids slid. Our son and Matt piled various objects in the backyard, at the bottom of a slight hill, and crashed their hotwheels into it. Over and over again...
Of course, being on a corner we also had the requisite lemonade stand, under the same trees that sheltered the tire swing.
Each one of our kids has thanked us for these summers. While they watched their overly-scheduled friends being shuttled from one commitment to another, they played, fought with each other, lazed, day-dreamed, hung out at the pool, got filthy dirty (a condition that's easily remedied with time spent in the tub later on), and read. They say that they wouldn't have had their summers any other way.
So, I'm with KaeEll on this. Enjoy...
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Oh yes, the "overly scheduled" children of the obsessed parents wanting little Tommy and Susie to be their very best selves. *groan* Those poor kids don't have a chance just to be children.
Now when I spend time with my little grandkids, in a house with no television, and I see Vanessa play so many imaginary games like hotel or shopping, with no props at all but her imagination, I am so dazzled. Maybe my son and his wife are on to something.
Yes, everyone thought that the Moores were irresponsible parents because we didn't have our three signed up for every single possible commitment. Our worst offense was that winter swim issue because it meant that our kids had a bit of a learning curve every summer, and probably jeopardized the all-over success of the swim team.
Our opinion was that it was supposed to be a fun summertime growth experience, not a serious year-long obligation that interfered with studies and sleep!
While the obsessed parents were shuttling kids, our kids were allowed to explore whatever they wanted, including Jim's expensive paints and brushes (art), many of which were unfortunately ruined, but our oldest daughter ended up discovering that she, too, inherited the art genes. That discovery was worth those ruined brushes because she ended up taking many art classes later on, some of them at boarding school, and some adult classes at a huge art center in Old Town Alexandria, during her summer breaks.
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Oh yes, the "overly scheduled" children of the obsessed parents wanting little Tommy and Susie to be their very best selves. *groan* Those poor kids don't have a chance just to be children.
Now when I spend time with my little grandkids, in a house with no television, and I see Vanessa play so many imaginary games like hotel or shopping, with no props at all but her imagination, I am so dazzled. Maybe my son and his wife are on to something.
Hey I learned out to schedule my own child hood, didn't need 50 thousand organized activities to do it. Ever heard of just kids playing? Hanging out? Riding bikes? Remember that? Yeah society went and killed that thanks to urban spawl and parents sticking their kids in this and that class and not allowing kids to go collect tadpoles and then play capture the flag at houses that are being constructed.... sadness...
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"If you were looking for something clever or witty or funny here, you've come to the wrong place."
well I only have a 3 year old so school's out doesn't really apply to me because she is still in day care during the day. But I actually look forward to watching kids play
when I was a kid playing outside all day was OK, nobody had to worry about safety.
But I don't allow my kids to play out front. The backyard is fine, but not the front. We have no shade trees and somehow they always end up on the street. And teens drive up and down like idiots.
Wish I could afford some camp time for them. Or if we could all go camping with some fun summer activities.
Mostly my Zach just gets into trouble with the two neighbor kids
Ryan goes off to his friend's house in the afternoons. Or roller blades.
Gabi is only 4, so she doesn't really go off and play at friend's houses or have many friends over here. (usually I end up having a play date with the mom of another four yearl old, but then that means I have to clean my house really well, moms are nosy)
Most other moms work as well, so there really aren't alot of kids hanging around the neighborhood.
So that is why I schedule a library day, field trip day, water park day, and movie day.
Tina, try looking into some day camps for kids in the community. The kids can do all kinds of fun stuff, safety is always a concern, not at all expensive either, at least not here.
Young teens need something other than mischief if that's a concern for you. Perhaps volunteer work at the Red Cross, answering phones for Meals on Wheels, that kind of thing. The summer that Mike was 14 he did that and turns out he loved it. He also volunteered a couple of afternoons a week at the local food bank sorting through tins of this and that. Oddly enough it parlayed into a part time job for him at Mastermind (kid science oriented toy shop) and that kept him busy and out of mischief for a long time. He liked it well enough to keep the job for Saturdays throughout most of the next school year.
Back online after having been without power since 3:00 pm this afternoon. Well, I guess since YESTERDAY afternoon.
It was our anniversary, and Jim came home early. Within an hour, our power was off. We'd planned to go out for dinner, but because it was storming so badly, we ended up having carryout by candlelight.
Remember that Kindle that I toyed with getting him? He got me one! LOL...!!! We both love it, so I'm ordering one for him first thing in the morning. It is WAY cool. I guess the two of deserve to have been married to each other for so long since we obviously think alike.
As far as summer camp goes, our son went down to Space Camp for a couple of weeks when he was middle school age, and went on a two-week trip with his Boy Scout troop a couple of years before that. Our oldest didn't really do camp, but was a Girl Scout for years, but didn't go away in the summer, and our youngest went up to Maine for a month when she was thirteen.
However, our local public schools have a day camp of sorts, and we tried that with our youngest daughter one summer. It was okay, but not any great shakes. However, it does get the kids out of the house for a brief period.
When our kids were really little, we put them in a two-week day camp that is run by a local private school -- one that our kids went to for a while, but it was open to anyone, I believe. The day camps are nice because it gives mom a break, and the kids get to ride ponies, do art, and other fun stuff. It might be worthwhile to check out the local private schools to see if they have programs. Sometimes, even the private high schools have camps for younger kids. It's worth making a few phone calls...
Look into your local Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops too. It's a great way to get the younger ones involved.
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Cody's last day was today as well.. or so he thought. Mommy is mad!!! He got an F on his report card so tha lazy carefree summer that we had plan has been turned into extra learning time. I am looking at a few tutors or something for the summer. I know right now I'm just seethign and about to blow a gasket so I may not end up sticking him in school 8 hours a day every day as I had really thought about doing, but this lil guy is gonna learn a lesson!!! He wanted to play around and ignore his teacher and he was warned at midterms that if he had any f's he'd be paying the consequences. Ohh I never had anything lower than a B so I'm just freaking livid. Well i should let myself calm downbefore I plot sending him to summer boarding school .. do they even have that .. wait no I shouldn't ask becuase if I find out they do I may be making some very hasty decisions.
The problem with any camps around here is cost and travel time. I was hoping to have a Summer where I am not obligated to be anywhere at any particular time. We just had so many activities that are now ending. I need a driving break
we had ballet, swimming, preschool, regular school, band activities, German club, and Soccer.
I lived in my van.
Oh, also I went to a prayer group, Friday mass and I volunteered at the school on Tuesdays.
I like my original idea: library day, movie day, field trip day, water park day - if we feel like it. Otherwise the kids will play inside and out. And learn to clean up after themselves.
