My children have fully embraced summer break. In one week, they have easily discarded backpacks, clothes that require ironing, concern over bedtime, worry about homework.
I am still adjusting.
Take our weekday morning routine. My alarms are still set at 6 a.m. (first warning) and 6:20 a.m. (absolutely must get out of bed — after hitting Snooze once).
There’s no reason for this. Even with tennis camp in the mornings, we don’t need to be ready until 8:15. And yet every morning I rise with the alarm, dutifully shower, prepare breakfast and almost make lunches to go. Just as I’m nearing the pantry door to pull out lunchboxes I remember: There’s no school today.
Cooper and Katie need no reminding. They wake when they want to. Lounge in pajamas. Lollygag without regret. Katie even napped, of her own accord, for hours one afternoon.
Summer is not wasted on the young.
Not every moment is carefree, though. I learned long ago to arrange a mix of structured activity and downtime. Too much of one and everyone gets cranky — from either constantly driving across a three-county area with a stressed-out urgency that we can’t be late or from being cooped up in the house with “nothing to do.”
So this week the kids have been playing tennis and swimming in the mornings and honing their ability to entertain themselves in the afternoons.
Cooper has devoured a 432-page novel and practiced every piano piece he’s ever learned. Multiple times.
Katie has created enough art projects to launch her own one-girl gallery show. Highlights would include a pastel and watercolor painting of undersea life, a multicolored, coiled snake shaped from clay, and three-dimensional pieces fashioned from paper and pipe cleaners (now known as chenille sticks).
While they’re playing and creating (and occasionally, incredulously insisting that there’s nothing to do), I can’t shake the feeling that there’s a spelling test to study for or guided reading to tackle or daily planners to review and sign.
Part of the reason is that my non-mom responsibilities don’t change when school’s out for summer. I still have regular work to complete and errands to run and obligations to fulfill. The trick is making my non-mom life meld with my summer-mom life.
That means working and grocery shopping and maybe even exercising as much as possible while the kids are sleeping, at a day camp or with our sitter for the few hours I can afford each week.
Making summer work also requires better habits.
This week I realized how awful my lunches have become. During the school year I might eat out with friends one day a week. The other days I eat while multitasking. I’ll absentmindedly nibble a sandwich while standing at the kitchen island and reading the newspaper. Or grab a handful of crackers and bottle of water on the way to an appointment.
Worst of all, sometimes I forget the midday meal altogether, until I start to crash around 3.
With kids at home, there’s no forgetting lunch. (In fact, life seems to revolve around what they’re eating and when.) And I certainly don’t want to pass along my unhealthy habits. So summertime means I actually sit down with humans every day and eat a real meal, on a plate, with utensils.
It’s the kind of change I can embrace for the next 11 weeks. Who knows — I may even turn off the alarm clock. Or at least move it to 7 a.m.
Tyra Damm is a Briefing columnist. Email her at tyradamm@gmail.com.
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