When summer rolls around, kids look forward to lazy days filled with spontaneous adventures: late mornings, leisurely strolls or bike rides around the neighborhood, frogging in the creek, nature walks, endless Lego creations, artistic efforts with finger painting and papier-mâché, pool time, baking delightful muffins from scratch, and deep discussions about nail polish colors or the latest crushes. Sounds like a dream summer, right? Well, if you’re a child, perhaps. But for parents, the narrative is quite different.
As a mostly stay-at-home mom, the idea of two months of unstructured time with my three kids sounds more daunting than dreamy. For them, “taking it easy” translates to me being on constant alert—no down time in sight. They don’t synchronize their wake-up or sleep schedules, and their culinary tastes rarely align unless we’re miraculously having shell-shaped mac ‘n cheese.
Each child has a unique interpretation of “unstructured” time: one prefers lounging at home, another is eager for a zoo trip, while the third craves a day at the amusement park. Coordinating these differing desires feels like herding cats, and it often ends in tears. If we stay home, the bickering can escalate until one child disappears into the world of Minecraft, another is kicking a soccer ball outside, and the third insists on playing “Mermaid Princess Goes to the Undersea Grocery Store” with me. Yes, I’m forced to don a tiara and channel my inner Rebel Wilson’s mermaid dance while knowing the breakfast diet of seahorses (hint: seaweed pancakes, obviously).
To provide my kids with that nostalgic “throwback” summer experience means I’m essentially on call 24/7, juggling cooking, playing, mediating disputes, and shuttling them around. The truth is, even if they managed to enjoy a week of total freedom, I’d struggle with the lack of structure. During the school year, I thrive on my routine, which includes a whirlwind of meal prep, carpooling, and errands, mixed with a few precious hours of part-time work and some much-needed solitude before the kids return home in various states of chaos. A random day off from school can send me into a tailspin—how will I fill the entire day? So, the thought of an entire summer with no plans is quite overwhelming.
This is why my kids are enrolled in camp for the entire summer. Well, aside from the couple of weeks of family vacation. This year, my two older children will attend sleepaway camp for a month, while the youngest will enjoy her preschool’s summer program, which is delightfully unstructured. Once they return, we have a short week before vacation, during which one child will attend soccer camp while the other does tennis, with the little one continuing her playful preschool camp. When we return, we’ll have about three weeks left of summer, filled with more camps, including one that takes them on excursions to all the places I prefer to avoid (like amusement parks), and more swim lessons.
I genuinely adore my children and cherish the time we spend together. However, navigating the summer with three kids who have diverse interests and demands without a plan is a bit much. I’ll admit I relish my child-free time, and a summer without camps leaves me craving personal space. Call it selfish, but it’s what I need to maintain a semblance of balance.
The upside is my kids love camp! It provides them with opportunities to improve their skills in sports, socialize with friends, and explore exciting activities like rock climbing and surfing. And lest you think I’ll be lounging poolside with cocktails while they’re busy, the youngest exits “camp” at 1 PM daily. I’ve also arranged one-on-one time with my older girls and a few group outings to show them just how much I care (Disneyland, anyone?). Because I truly do!
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In summary, while the idea of an unstructured summer sounds appealing to kids, for parents, it often translates to chaos and a lack of personal time. Camps provide a necessary structure that allows parents to maintain their sanity while kids enjoy summer adventures.
Keyphrase: unplanned summers
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