Not much

The last fight about getting dressed was today. The last rush for the hair brush and matching shoes and the underwear check seemed just about normal, but it was easy to take since we are all looking forward to the long break. Adventure awaits....right? What I remember of summer as a kid include hot days with no air conditioning while helping mom can corn, walking beans, and the county fair in good old Iowa humidity. I remember buying taffy at the local pool for five cents and getting sunburned frequently and taking joy in pulling off real large pieces of dried skin. There may have been a random car trip to visit relatives in exotic Northern Minnesota, but usually there were just vast days of sun and no plans. I am hoping to give my kids much of the same-large amounts of unplanned time. This is a challenge to the modern parent. So much is offered for kids and much of it is good. But we all know boredom breeds creativity and I loved playing imaginary games and just being a little bit...idle. It's not a very popular concept in our world- idleness. But one of the things I like about myself is that most times, I can be comfortable just doing nothing. I can be in silence with no tv or radio and just be. I get restless, yes, but once I settle in, it feels good. I work really hard to listen to myself. I hope I can teach that to my kids. I suppose you don't have to be idle to do that. But I think it's ok to not rush from here to there. There aren't any awards given out to who did the most in one day and if so, I am hereby bowing out of any race. Oh, I am not trying to be too philosophical. Any parent does what works for them and maybe I am just lazy. But I want my kids to not need something or someone for entertainment. In the end, we only have ourselves, right? For sure there will be camps and play dates, but there will also be a lot of nothing. We'll see how it goes. Check back with me on day two.

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