Serenity Now!

Last week my husband and I spent a blissful week in Cancun for our 23rd wedding anniversary. It was time we prioritized our marriage and ourselves, besides our children needed a break from us as much as we needed time away from them! A true blessing to experience, we relished the time together at an adults-only all-inclusive resort, never discussing nor missing our children who were experiencing an all-inclusive 'stay-cation' with relatives. Quite frankly, I didn't want to see children, hear children or smell children our entire celebration and we laughed at the couples who phoned their children from the beach. Needless to say, a week following our return, full-on into the final week of school projects, 5th grade continuation, marching band parades, baseball games, and 2nd grade stomach flu, I scarcely recall the ocean waves lapping the shore or the peace I felt reading three novels without agenda. Today I sit here, kids momentarily out of school, as panic ensues and summer vacation begins. Serenity now!

Cheers to our journey together!

Summer vacation. For whom? The kids are excited and I'm re-experiencing tense muscle pain briefly released while basking in the sunshine or under a tropical palapa on the beach. As my shoulders creep up to my earlobes, bracing myself for four children at home who prefer to be entertained by electronics, I remind myself that I've momentarily chosen an alternative career path to afford the opportunity to nurture them during the summer months. A sacrifice for all I say, not just monetarily! 

This morning I announced we should move to a farm for the summer so the kids could learn the value of labor milking cows, collecting fresh laid eggs and tending to the crops and livestock. No one took me seriously. Gone are the days when I could drop all four children at the affordable community center during the day while I worked my office job and I desperately miss a good business trip alone! Luckily my high schooler, can earn her way working summer jobs supporting expensive needs. Yet it seems the middle school years are devoid of opportunity for children to stay out of trouble, unless we mortgage our home for 'away camps', and with four children we are over our heads! Hence the need for free farm labor camps...a win for all, but I digress. 

I bit the bullet and buckled down this morning, plotting out our inexpensive local summer bucket list and the inevitable summer daily schedule, promising Forced Family Fun (#FFF) until the cows come home! Recalling my childhood where TV was our choice of electronics and, short of my brother and I beating on each other all day, biking and playing outdoors were our only other option. Nowadays, screen time is as addictive as crack cocaine and while we limit iPhones to children older than 14, the children still have iPads they've purchased with their own money. I fear Generation Z is the epitome of an 'entertain me' generation.

I plan to unveil my creative draft 'summer vacation' plan this weekend, to include a curfew for my new sophomore in high school. (I can already envision the eye rolling!) Honestly, I feel an hour of screen time a day is generous to rot the brain, but here's the kicker, it includes Minecraft, Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Madden Mobile, AND equal online learning to include coding, chess, sudoku and math games of your choice! (FYI, Fortnite has yet to receive parental approval.)

You better believe it's gonna take all the persuasive CIA skills I've retained to succeed in their recruitment, but that's just it parents, it's all in your approach, and children need boundaries as much as I'll need more wine (and less whine) this summer! For me the approach is two pronged: First, a high dose of the crack cocaine...I'm loading them up with the goodies today through Monday. "Seriously kids, rot your brains on the iPads, I will be sorely disappointed if you haven't drained them by Tuesday," I joked after school let out today (and the only way to finish this article between school activities). Soon to be followed by family discussion and input from children about the draft 'Summer Schedule of Awesomeness' while they are still experiencing the endless electronic high this weekend. Conversation is the key to buy-in!

Hopefully by the end of the summer I will have written numerous articles about our #FFF memorable adventures and will not be found sucking my thumb and rocking myself in the corner of my closet. Lord knows I've had difficult jobs, but parenting has often been the most challenging! The pay sucks, and my responsibilities keep increasing, not to mention the fact that I'm sorely outnumbered. Positive feedback or a raise? Forget about it! The children plan to suck us dry, so I'm thankful we seized Cancun before college. I can almost hear the ocean waves lapping the beach...Serenity now!