My love/ hate relationship with everyone else’s favorite season.
10.5 weeks or approximately 20% of the calendar year makes up “summer break” for school kids. Cue the cheers! Excitement! The lazy days of summer are here! It also brings about challenges and frustrations for working parents — especially for those of us who love a schedule.
BIRDIES! (The Good Stuff)
- The Pool — enough said. Summer friends and swim friends, both kids and adults! Meet me at the pool bar, and let’s catch up on the last 10 months!
- Daylight savings time — nothing beats the sun being out at 8:30 pm! Longer days to work and play!
- Swim meets — no better way to see our kid-friends and parent-friends from all over town!
- Golf season — speaks for itself.
- Wimbledon, British Open, and Prime Time (Left Coast) Golf — early morning and late evening sporting events leave the days free for family or work time!
- Summer camps — every year we have found a “new to us” awesome summer camp. From drama camp at NCSA in 2019 to Wake Forest soccer camp in 2021, opportunities abound for our littles to make camp memories!
- Day trips — look around! We live in such a centrally located area with day trips in each direction. One of my favorites? Hanging Rock and a kayak or tubing trip on the Dan!
BOGIES! (The Not-So-Good Stuff)
- HOW MUCH LONGER UNTIL FOOTBALL SEASON?
- The pool — do we have to go, AGAIN?
- Summer camp — new camps become less desirable the older the kids get. I’m thankful for every basketball camp in town for 2021!
- Sleeping in — for many, workdays start before 8. Clearly, that interferes with growing kids!
- The beach — I really don’t love the beach. The sand never goes away, I need to be busy, and my magazine gets wet. Let’s just go fishing!
- Daylight savings time — can we throw in a snow day once a month, please?
- It is hot — really hot.
- “Let’s hang out!” — I can’t, I really can’t. Let’s walk, play golf, work out, or go fishing. My “hang out” ability time gets shorter as I get older! I need something to DO!
Bottom line: “Summer break” for my (not so) littles can be 10.5 weeks without a routine, but with some compromise it can be a time of personal and family growth. Work hard, play harder, keep the days in perspective. Enjoy the summer your way! See you on the first tee, the pool bar, or at a swim meet!
Cheers!
Tori