Summer, A Well Balanced Party?

I think perhaps I have a certain amount of anti-social qualities about myself. Maybe it's just a version of over protective mothering.

I set out to tackle summer in a different way this year. Summer can be an issue around here and I don't like it to be.

I have somewhat special kids. In most ways and most settings, they are average. But, there are moments and situations when they just don't fit in. Add in the fact that kids can be cruel, and you get a very unfun summer.

Some years we've just been a school year round family and that was enough. It kept the boys out of the neighborhood mix and the problems down to a dull roar. There were other issues though. There was the constant whine of why am I still doing school and everyone else is outside playing. Now, never mind, that each of the neighbor kids had specific "school" things they had to accomplish over the summer, most of which included daily work with their moms. It didn't matter. To my kids, they were the only ones being tortured with school work.

It also doesn't matter that our work load and school schedule was different from the other kids during the school year. They can't see time that way and so they just couldn't remember what it was like in December to go out on a Monday morning and build snowmen while all the other kids were at school.

This year my plan was to keep everyone busy. We put ourselves in a number of activities that take us away from home almost daily. These past few weeks and the next few weeks we are even more busy. We have multiple activities every day.

Can I confess? I don't really enjoy all the activities. I really don't enjoy the seemingly constant running from place to place, the rushed lunches, the missed naps, the really late dinners and even later bed times. But in a way, that's what summer ought to be, right? A frenzy of fun things to do, new things to do, great memories being made and getting sort of sweaty, sticky, itchy and sun burnt. And so we're doing it.

The push is really on now. We're going to run like crazy until August and then it's over. In a way, I'm really looking forward to August. Whole days where we don't really have to leave the house if we don't want to. It means, though, that we'll have exactly that, whole days, here. At our house. With all the neighbors.

Now, it's not like my neighbor kids are future axe murders and dealers. Not at all. But they are kids. Kids who get hot, cranky and nasty. Kids who demand, bully and punch. Kids who whine and exclude and taunt. Kids who act like kids. Kids who act like my kids.

Sometimes a neighbor's kid, simply just isn't your kid. Your own kid, or even one in your care like my fosters, is your own. You give them those looks, the body language, the simple words that you use and they know because it's all a part of the family language. And, they know the unspoken rules, what's allowed, what's tolerated, and what's just way past a good idea without having to be told. Sometimes it's just simpler to have only your own.

Now, I don't want to live in isolation or anything like that. There are plenty of days that I'm just like all the other moms and utter those famous summer lines, "Go outside and find some kids to play with!". But, I'm usually not up to host the whole pack either. You know the afternoon, the one where you hand out 25 ice pop sticks and cups of water. You have the endless requests to use the bathroom and "ask my mom if it's OK" requests.

Perhaps, this is just part of what summer looks like for a mom. It's all about band aids and pop sickle sales. It's finding that balance of fun stuff to do and staying home and hanging out. It's finding a way to balance being social, fun and friendly with being a family that likes to be together being a family together.

Here's hoping that by August, we're all well balanced.