“Oh, this summer we’re just going to really savour our time together! We’ll lounge at the beach, sip cool drinks on the deck, run through the sprinklers and have a grand ol’ time,” I boasted on July 1st.
Then, by the time the 3rd of the month arrived I was singing a different tune, clawing my way through the days, going crazy with all the fighting and whining and the bad weather and did I mention the fighting and whining? So, I marched up to the rec centre, signed the two older girls up for swimming lessons and a couple weeks of day camp and the rest of the summer has been so much more manageable.
Karenna is a different kid (meaning she’s less of a horror) when her older sister is away so when Avelyn was having a blast at kids’ camp, I was able to enjoy some quality time with my middle girl, get lots of work done around the house (de-cluttering, for the win!) and go to the beach with just two little ones to supervise. Avelyn loved every minute of the day camps she attended and she had so much more fun there than she would have at home with my hollering at the girls to STOP FIGHTING ALREADY and booting them outside to half-heartedly jump on the trampoline together for three minutes before the FIGHTING STARTED AGAIN.
We are the kind of household that needs some kind of routine, or else the boredom strikes and the days just go to pot. Signing the kids up for a few activities helped to break up the time and the weeks and we were all happier for it.
How do you spend your summer days? Do you keep your kids enrolled in programs and activities or take a total break from scheduling? Has you summer gone how you pictured it?
had my usual swim and was in the change room drying off and getting changed. was sitting down putting on my socks thinking about nothing!! just doing it. then i heard this voice “hi granda” i looked up and there was cuyler standing in front of me…smiling!!! i was so surprised, shocked and happy to see him. i stood up and held him close and said ” cuyler your the best thing to happen to me today” as i
hugged him. then in came cuylers brother cam, again we were surprised, shocked and happy to see each other. we high fived and hugged. the three of us for that moment in time were in a zone hard to explain, but it felt so goooooooood. i didnt want it to end….. thanks guys.
granda.
ok no laughing- when my girls were little at the cottage I did a schedule for each day to give structure. Walk, swim, read stories, nap, do art. Honestly, I was only sane with a good schedule and then I came home with two large rubbermaid containers and they spent a week in them on the deck. I kid you not. They ate in them, played in them, filled them with water…. Bizzare.
I get the need for routine and summer camp!
No camps at all, lots of road trips, no problems (for the most part).
We are not routine peeps at all. In the summer that is. We go to bed late, sleep late, eat when we’re hungry, hang around, and it all works out.
Yes, they drive me nuts when they fight, but it’s not a lot – thankfully. It must be the twin thing. They are such good playmates.
I’m not ready to go back and leave them again…:(.
Maybe they don’t need a routine, or maybe it’s just a different routine, or maybe it’s just different strokes for different folks?
Whatever works, I say.
Glad that she enjoyed camp and it gave you and the other two girls the breather you needed.
We kept my kids out of camps for the most part (they attended two week-long VBSs but one was only 2 hours, and the other one I was a volunteer every day so it didn’t exactly count as a break) because I needed to save all our money for my own tuition this fall.
We are all so ready for them to go back to school. My girls are constantly bickering and need to spend time apart in their separate classrooms. It is driving me insane.
And, I crave routine. I miss the routine of the school year.
Both of my kids are at day camp as we speak. They are there for the entire week! Sheer B L I S S!!!
If we could afford to send them for more weeks we would. They have a lot of fun and yes, no having to listen to them fight!
Enjoy what is left of your summer!
They were both in camp for most of the summer – the boy for full days, and the girl for half days… then he only wanted to go half days… now they’re both done, and school doesn’t start for him for another week, and ohmylord I’m going crazy. Which also explains my absence as of late.
I think some routine is so necessary, especially when they’re this young (and even more so when you have no backyard to chuck them into…) so KUDOS to you for signing them up. I’m so happy you got a bit of downtime for decluttering (JOY!!) but in any respect, less yelling and breaking up the squabbles is just sanity in the bank, right?
Good post, lady. 🙂