Summer, It Begins

Well with the last day of school tomorrow for most of the kids around here, summer has officially begun. And may I say the weather is finally beginning to co-operate. At least in my city it is. And I am so glad. A half a dozen kids with cabin fever for days on end is no fun! We've been outside soaking in every minute of warm rays that Mr. Sun sees fit to give us.

I've been trying to get myself motivated to get a semblance of a summer plan together. I know summer is all about letting loose and lazy, hazy days and all that, but really I still have to plan some activities for each day for the dayhome kids or else it really does become chaotic. Because a lot depends on the weather, I usually do a bit of a flexible plan. Just different ideas that I can incorportate on whatever day I choose as the mood strikes as long as I have that list of ideas and supplies ready on hand this is easy. If I don't, it makes for very long days.

" Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it,
it is not all mixed up."

A.A. Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh

I always find the balance between having dayhome kidlets arriving at 7:30 in the a.m. and allowing my own kids summer sleep in time a constant source of stress and struggle. Not that my kids sleep in until noon but I do like to let them have a couple hours past their regular school wake up time. It is their summer holidays, after all. And they are teenagers. Teenagers who have summer jobs where they sometimes don't get home until midnight. But on the same token I cannot and will not be "shushing" the dayhome kids, their parents pay me to let them come and have fun, not be told to be quiet all the time. My best bet is to make sure there are planned things to do for that morning time slot. Choices that don't involve running, screaming and bedlam. So my summer balancing act begins. Sometimes I'm able to get those balls all in the air. Sometimes it is a battle.

"To be prepared is half the victory"
Miquel de Cervantes Saavedre

But in all the planning, I've found, flexibility is the key with a houseful of kids in the summer. I'm a bit of a "plan but go with the flow kind of gal", rather than the "execute the plan at all costs" type of person. If the kids are having a ton of fun doing something I am definitely not going to break it up just to force them to start something new that I had planned. That would be craziness on my part and bring on many tears. The kids and mine.

So my list begins. (And to help me with that I'll be checking out Faith's series on summer activities for kids to maybe get some new ideas I haven't yet used.) And you can bet if the kids choose to dream and wile away some time that will definitely be allowed. It is summer, after all.

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."
John Lubbock

And who knows. I might just join them.