We are doing nothing this summer. The kids are not going to camp, we are not taking a vacation - well, if you count one overnight with a friend next weekend - then yes a small vacation. But mostly - nothing. And , you know, I'm fine with that. It is how I remember summer as a kid. Hanging out at home, playing with the neighbor kids, finally getting a chance to stay up late on a weeknight. I'm doing the same for my kids. Except no one is around! No big kids in the playground they are all at day camp or sleep away. Friends - theirs and mine - are all away on vacation.
How are they supposed to tell the difference between school and summer vacation if we don't give the kids a chance to hang around and get bored, fight with each other, stay up late, sleep in late and generally be lazy, imaginative toads for nine weeks?!
Every summer I say I'll sign the kids up for a couple of weeks of camp here and there and at least my older one says she wants to go. Then the slow, lazy, unscheduled days of summer arrive and I'm glad to not have to make lunches and hustle the kids off somewhere for the day. I'm glad to just hang out with them, let them hang out with each other and generally tell the whole structured world we'll get back to them in the fall.
This summer I'm working a good amount - but I can work at home. My husband, too, is busy but he works both in and out of the house. We've set up a space in the bedroom for our work and the kids are old enough to create projects and games for themselves while we work. So far this summer they've built forts, constructed homemade race tracks, made spaceships from chairs and pillows, baked brownies, made instant pudding and homemade lemonade and finally bonded with our often cranky cat.
Sure, I'm fortunate to stay home - of course that could explain why we aren't going on vacation but it's a trade-off. And I wouldn't have it any other way. I just wish more people did the hang out summer - then we could all be rockin' the summer together.
