At the tail end of summer last year, my son started walking. I crammed visits to as many splash pads and playgrounds as I possibly could in those last few weeks before Labor Day.
This summer, my son is home with me again. He’s a lot more active than last year, but I’m going to try to slow down the pace a little bit.
The pressure to keep my son active and engaged as much as possible isn’t there as much as last summer. We will definitely spend time outdoors, but it might not always be at the most popular splash pad. A lot of time will be spent in the backyard with the inflatable pool I got on clearance at the end of last summer.
When I look back on the summers of my childhood, the fondest memories I have were the quiet moments: watching a movie on a rainy afternoon or playing UNO with my friends. The activities weren’t as important as the company I kept.
I feel like social media has amplified the FOMO (fear of missing out) and the mom guilt of just staying at home. I’m totally guilty of it, too! I find myself chronicling the outings out of the house on social media a lot more than I share our “hanging out at home” time.
We are lucky to live in a city that offers free or very affordable activities over the break. I get that there are moms who need to have something on the schedule every day or else they go stir crazy. I am not one of those moms, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Of course, we will take advantage of what our community offers, but for me, it doesn’t have to happen every day.
So moms who have your kids home all summer: if there’s a morning when you wake up tired and the idea of rounding up your tribe to head to the playground seems super daunting, stay at home! Your kids will be ok, heck they will be better for it. It’s not your job to be the activities director all the time.
As the years pass by and they grow older, you might be surprised to hear their favorite childhood summer memory was snuggling with you on a rainy day and not climbing on the monkey bars while you watched from a park bench.
