Parents, you’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.

Or just as likely, we’ve got questions and you’ve got answers.

Challenge: Summer Fun

Best Summer Challenge: DO NOTHING.

1
Vote up!
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email this article

2c49863c60d2ef5227b1c3f1095d145f5411546a.jpg

Judging my how I titled this post you'd think I was a real lazy a$$ (I promise I'm not).

But I will frankly tell you what I am:

I am fatigued, semi-annoyed and just plain mind-boggled with all the planning and searching and activity-creating and crafting and oh-you-gotta-try-this-with-your-kids urgency that is constantly shoved down our throats (my own Twitter feed guiltily included). No wonder modern parents are overwhelmed. Life has gotten too overwhelming, even for the most hustling multi-taskers.

(I also promise I'm not a cranky curmudgeon...)

Like most parents of my generation, here's what I did during the summer as a kid: I watched TV. I did cartwheels with my sister outside. I spent all day in the pools of neighborhood friends and cousins. I remember making homemade snow cones with this cheap ice-shaving machine my mom bought from our local department store (she let us put as much syrup on them as we wanted).

I remember feeling free. I remember laughing. I remember happiness.

I don't ever remember being 'bored' -- but maybe that's because my mom hated the word 'bored' and prohibited us from saying it at all. "If you're bored, find something to do!" So we did. And it'd be FUN.

What should we be doing this summer with our kids? Nothing. We should all be doing nothing together... as families. I'm opting out of the extreme summer planning and I don't feel guilty about it.

Ok, I was the one who spontaneously enrolled my almost-5 year old in a local week-long cheerleading camp because I knew she'd love it. (She did! The chants go on at my house..."We are dynamite! Don't mess with dynamite!") But after that cheer camp, it's been a free-for-all. We'll go to the park... if we feel like it. We'll stay in our pajamas... if we feel like it. We'll lay on the floor and take ridiculous selfies of silly faces just for the sport of it... if we feel like it (we did, see picture above).

Because, my days are numbered. With my older daughter starting full-time school in the fall, a part of me feels like this is our last summer to be lazy, crazy and wild without judgement. When mid-August hits, its back to school, back to lessons, back to driving, back to coordinating, back to business, back to planning. (And now I'm cranky again.)

You get what I mean? I challenge all of us multi-tasking, rock-star hustling, hurry-up-and-go-go-go parents to do something outside our comfort zone:

Let's. Try. And. STOP. Just for a minute. It'll be okay... I promise.

Parents need breaks. Kids need breaks. Human beings need to shut down so that we can effectively power up again when it's time. (Is there a psychologist in the house to back me up on this?) Not every day must be jam-packed with an agenda that has us running around for the sake of filling our days. Summer is for winding down. Summer is for resting. Summer is for savoring. Summer is for fun... and if that means staying in our pajamas all day and eating ice cream sundaes for dinner one night just for the heck of it (don't tell my husband that), so be it. Because it's summer. (And I love it.)

This post comes from the TODAY Parenting Team community, where all members are welcome to post and discuss parenting solutions. Learn more and join us! Because we're all in this together.