Looks like summer time in the City! And, having the kids home from school EVERY day is coming up fast. I am facing a very different summer than previous years. With two kids working full time and one who is starting to be embarrassed by my presence, I fear the ‘family vacation’ may be on hiatus for a spell. Which means that I have no more excuses to avoid work, clean the basement, deal with my recycling, finish all the half-started projects around the house…the usual.
In same news, let’s just re-visit the whole summer break dilemma again shall we. In summers past, I have pre-meditated every day of the holidays as much for my kids’ benefit as for my own peace of mind. If you think I can come out the other side of 60 days having been asked hourly what are we doing today, you are sorely mistaken. So, with the infinitely easier task of arranging the social calendar of a single child for 2 months this summer, I happily consulted my go-to activity planner to fill her schedule with some fun sports camps, a program or two from the Vancouver School Board and a handful of day trip diversions that I felt sure would entertain, amuse and satisfy her summer goal of fond memories and carefree bliss. I have said it once, and now I am saying it again… ‘what a fool I was!’ Apparently 12 is the new 16 and ‘OMG Mom, why would you ever think I would like to do any of those lame activities anymore?’ Hmmm, maybe because you just spent a 4 hour birthday party at an extreme water park so I thought you might like to learn how to surf or practice your skim board skills or brush up on your math (see last month’s post) or get away from your hateful brother and sister for a week or learn how to make your own stop-motion film or learn how to fly your own plane. (OK, maybe I didn’t actually sign her up for that, but I want you to note the lengths I am prepared to go in order to provide epic summer entertainment!) Apparently the parenting skill that makes note of the changing interests of my various off-spring has eluded me once again and I have failed, crashed and burned, wham bam no thank you ma’am. Sigh, I g i v e u p !
The thing is, generally I will make the executive decision and just register my intended victim for the program and typically, they have a good time so I have to ask, ‘why must we go through this drama every time I suggest anything?’ And this remains one of the most sought after answers of my parenting experience. Right up there with; ‘why did you just eat a bag of chips 15 minutes before dinner?’, ‘why did you throw this pile of clean clothes back into the laundry?’, ‘how did you manage to lose every pair of socks from this 12 pack I bought last week?’, ‘why did you tell me you didn’t have any homework?’, ‘why didn’t you go before we left the house?’….
Keep Calm and Parent On