the summer of my underachievement.....2019
In one week the school year will be finished. The children will all bring home the contents of their school desks and backpacks. We will switch gears and move into summer mode. I see lots of social media posts that give lists of chores and tasks for children to complete each day before they can watch tablets, or play with friends or whatever. While I appreciate those lists, I would put them in a category I call "overachiever parents". I am not one of them.
I'm sure that if all 5 of my children could wake up, make their bed, do one household chore, read 20 minutes, brush their teeth and exercise every day I would feel like a really good parent. Who am I kidding.....I can't even get them to do the library reading program long enough to get the little sign to put in the grass for the rest of the summer. Neither can I get my husband to spray for weeds on demand or fix the deck in the backyard.....I can't make my people do much. I can ask nicely. I can offer rewards and punishments......but to what end?
I would also feel like a really great wife and mom and homemaker if for just one day I could get all the cobwebs swept up and the window wells wiped down so that when I open the window I don't see dirt. If I could have the house clean every day and run 3 miles every morning before 6am......and write thank you notes and give gifts to teachers and.....the list goes on and on.
I am just ordinary and average and so are my kids. We are going to start summer break next week. Sometimes the dishes will get done and the house picked up. Sometimes they will do their "to do list" I leave for them and sometimes they won't....and it's ok. My kids get to enjoy 3 months of summer vacation because they get to do so. In America, they get 3 months off and don't have to study or do assignments or show up to class every morning at 8am.
Starting next week we will go to high school baseball games that last later than the bedtimes my littles are used to. Oh well. We may not eat wholesome meals around the table most nights and opt for concession stand hot dogs and popcicles and bags of chips. Oh well. Maybe I will take a bucket of soapy water to my windows and maybe I won't. Summer starts soon. If I can get to September and look back and see that we spent time outside, we watched lots of baseball, we went to the zoo, we ate hotdogs and s'mores in the backyard on Sunday nights and we swam a lot.....then I can put myself in my own version of overachiever parent.
Don't look for the achieving reader sign in my yard, ok? But feel free to walk on back and come in the gate and sit with us by the pool....
my bucket list for summer 2019:
Read Trumpet of the Swan to whichever child will listen.
Go to Omaha Zoo
Walk or trot outside often. (doing the "couch to 5K app right now)
Attract a variety of birds to my backyard
Attend Okoboji Bible Conference in August
Lots of bonfires in the backyard
Watch lots and lots and lots of baseball
Find a summer song. Remember? when we listened to the radio and there was that popular summer song we all loved? I want to find that song this summer
Go for a boat ride
Sleep outside on the tramp
Spend a weekend alone with my husband
Slow down. Breathe deeper. Love well.
I'm sure that if all 5 of my children could wake up, make their bed, do one household chore, read 20 minutes, brush their teeth and exercise every day I would feel like a really good parent. Who am I kidding.....I can't even get them to do the library reading program long enough to get the little sign to put in the grass for the rest of the summer. Neither can I get my husband to spray for weeds on demand or fix the deck in the backyard.....I can't make my people do much. I can ask nicely. I can offer rewards and punishments......but to what end?
I would also feel like a really great wife and mom and homemaker if for just one day I could get all the cobwebs swept up and the window wells wiped down so that when I open the window I don't see dirt. If I could have the house clean every day and run 3 miles every morning before 6am......and write thank you notes and give gifts to teachers and.....the list goes on and on.
I am just ordinary and average and so are my kids. We are going to start summer break next week. Sometimes the dishes will get done and the house picked up. Sometimes they will do their "to do list" I leave for them and sometimes they won't....and it's ok. My kids get to enjoy 3 months of summer vacation because they get to do so. In America, they get 3 months off and don't have to study or do assignments or show up to class every morning at 8am.
Starting next week we will go to high school baseball games that last later than the bedtimes my littles are used to. Oh well. We may not eat wholesome meals around the table most nights and opt for concession stand hot dogs and popcicles and bags of chips. Oh well. Maybe I will take a bucket of soapy water to my windows and maybe I won't. Summer starts soon. If I can get to September and look back and see that we spent time outside, we watched lots of baseball, we went to the zoo, we ate hotdogs and s'mores in the backyard on Sunday nights and we swam a lot.....then I can put myself in my own version of overachiever parent.
Don't look for the achieving reader sign in my yard, ok? But feel free to walk on back and come in the gate and sit with us by the pool....
my bucket list for summer 2019:
Read Trumpet of the Swan to whichever child will listen.
Go to Omaha Zoo
Walk or trot outside often. (doing the "couch to 5K app right now)
Attract a variety of birds to my backyard
Attend Okoboji Bible Conference in August
Lots of bonfires in the backyard
Watch lots and lots and lots of baseball
Find a summer song. Remember? when we listened to the radio and there was that popular summer song we all loved? I want to find that song this summer
Go for a boat ride
Sleep outside on the tramp
Spend a weekend alone with my husband
Slow down. Breathe deeper. Love well.
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