Succumbing to Summer

Each January after the start of a new year, I am forced into a state of “recovery.” The holidays are over, the new year has started and the early months have me in some kind of holiday hangover. Then the spring comes. Suddenly my life is jump started and the pace is quick and steady from March through May.  Memorial Day comes and goes and we’re enjoying the lazy days of summer by the pool and the next thing I know we’re mid June. I am still into schedules and routines and winter bedtimes and then I realize…..it’s summer.

Summer is summer for a reason. We allow our kids to eat more popsicles, stay up later, skip a bath in lieu of the evening swim, eat more hot dogs and just wander around the yard.

I picked my kids up from camp today, brought them lunch, took them to the park, played and realized that they spent a total of SEVEN hours outside. That’s right, my 5 and almost 4 year old spent seven hours in summer bliss. So when at 4 p.m. I mentioned how they had run out of things to do at home, my husband looked at me like I was some kind of two-headed monster and reminded me: Summer is not about keeping kids busy all the time. Summer Is about just enjoying the fun of nothing to do.

I stopped for a minute and realized he was right. My Type A-self is a slave to the clock and I need to give in to the wonderful things summer has to offer, not just my kids, but me as well.

• Flip flops are acceptable footwear for almost every event all summer long.
• Lemonade, ice tea and/or margaritas make any play date more fun.
• Bedtime doesn’t have to be set in stone. So what if they’re tired tomorrow.
• Let them be dirty, sweaty and wet from outside play.
• Sand is good. Chlorine smell is Ok.
• Trashy books are good for the soul.

I’m taking a deep breath and trying to zen a bit and give in to all that is summer.

This is an original DC Metro Moms post.

Linda writes at Baby Bunching and Monkey Business.