The musical melody of birds chirping woke me up this morning. Such a lovely, peaceful sound.
Just kidding, I’m a mom! I woke up with one dog licking my face, another licking my foot, and my two kids bouncing on top of me like a seesaw, chatting about summer break.
My older child was excitedly explaining the calendar to my younger one. She counted the days on her fingers, and said, “I’m so excited there are only 7 days until school is out for the summer!”
Those words caused squeals of delight. Both my kids jumped up and down, on my belly. “YAY”, they yelled. Endless days… at the beach, the pool, the park, camp, wherever. It doesn’t matter because wherever it is, it isn’t school.
“I can’t wait”, they screamed.
I clearly remember feeling that same excitement when I was a kid. I imagine most teachers have that same reaction too.
But now that I’m not a kid anymore, or a teacher, I don’t necessarily share the excitement.
School is out for summer, means something completely different to stay-at-home or work-from-home moms everywhere. What emotions did those words elicit from me?
FEAR.
PANIC.
DREAD.
NAUSEA.
OMG!
ALL OF THE ABOVE.
Basically, “Oh Crap… I love my kids dearly, but what will I do with them all summer long?”
While I am partly joking, I am also partly serious! It’s tough to suddenly have togetherness all the time.
When the kiddos finally reach school age, most work-from-home, and stay-at-home moms have a busy daily routine. Get the kids on the bus, and you are off and running for the day. My day is non-stop while they are at school.
Sometimes my husband questions what I do all day, which pisses me off. I am a freelance marketing manager, and writer. So that means from the minute the bus whisks my kids away, I spend 4-5 hours working. Which leaves 2 hours until the kids get home. Cue my frantic running around… laundry, empty the dishwasher, take out the garbage, pay bills, grocery shop, everything else shop… it’s honestly never-ending. And whatever I don’t get done is saved for the next day. It’s a vicious cycle!
And after I scramble to get as much done as I can, and get home to meet the kids getting off the bus, the truly chaotic part of the day begins.
Sports practice, homework, dinner, reading, bath, bedtime. And don’t forget the hour of “Mommy, I’m not tired, I can’t fall asleep, I’m lonely”, until they FINALLY pass out.
Now, back to that annoying question – what do I actually do all day? lol.
So what happens when summer comes and the kids are suddenly home all day?
Quick answer? Chaos.
Longer answer? Lots of chaos. Basically I envision refereeing daily sibling fights, while trying to get my work done, with the kids repeatedly telling me they are bored. I can just forget the chores. There won’t be time for those.
So after hearing the summer break countdown conversation this morning, I realized it’s time to plan. Okay, I’m a little late to plan, with only 7 days left of school, but, better late than never!
On my list of URGENT TO-DO’s:
1) Charge all the iPads in the house for the emergency “screen time, mommy needs to cook dinner” times.
2) Immediately host a training seminar for both my kids on how to independently work the TV remotes, as well as DVD players, Apple TV, and the microwave oven.
3) Find a teen to be the one to referee the fighting once in a while, (which means hire a “mother’s helper” to come to my house a few hours each week). Or many hours.
4) Buy a case of wine.
5) Lastly, a more serious idea: While I wouldn’t consider myself a “crafty”mom, I began putting together a board with fun summer activity ideas. When the kids are behaving, they will get rewarded by being able to pick an activity from the board. For instance, a trip to the local zoo, water park, or to the movies. I think this may actually be a good idea!
Please wish me luck. Check back with me in August and see how we did!
#SchoolsOutForSummer
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haha! this made me chuckle 😉
Thanks for stopping by!
This is my first time as a work from home mom (though I haven’t made any money yet lol) and I feel guilty for not doing as much with them as I want and some days I just want to scream please let me just get this finished!!! Lol
I’m sure I will be screaming that too! lol
It’s sure a universal feeling among moms when the school door closes for summer vacation!
I’m glad I’m not the only one!
Happy almost summer! I’m a teacher and I’ve been on vacation for four days and I’m already loving it! I’m a new mama (had my sweet baby in August) so this is my first summer as a mama! I love #4…. buy wine! Enjoy mama!
Congrats on your baby! I miss the early days!!! Mine are 6 & 9 now. It goes by too fast! Enjoy the summer!
Oh I hear ya. I love my children too, but I had no idea what a killer summer would be until I had three children (two in school). It’s tough! It sounds like you have a good plan though.
It is tough! Good luck to you too!
LOL!! I love that you wrote “Buy a case of wine” and give a training session on how to use the remotes!
I may buy 2 cases! lol
Haha- good luck. As a teacher I’ll be over here doing my happy dance in t-minus 7 days 🙂
You lucky lady!!! Enjoy the summer!
😀
I’m finding myself working after bedtime a lot more now that school is out here. That used to be my watch tv while folding laundry time. So the laundry is still in baskets… A glass of wine would be nice! #manicmondays
Awe! Good luck Mom! I’m sure you’ll do fine 🙂
Sister, I’m right there with you. I’m a work-from-home freelancer, and the summer always has me in a panic. I have my kids on camp part of the day, so I can squeeze in a few hours of work, but it’s stressful! Fortunately my husband runs his own business and can be flexible to help out when I need it. But my anxiety levels are already rising! Thanks for linking up at the Manic Mondays blog hop!
Yep! School ended yesterday and I am in full-on panic mode! lol Good luck to you too!