Summer Time: They Can't All Be The Best Summer Ever

Can we talk about summer break for a second? Remember the last weeks of school before the glorious 2 months of summer vacation! Not a care in the world, and although I don’t remember my mom working, or not, through the summer I also don’t remember anyone doing child care for us. These days summer isn’t as much fun for me. I don’t get 2 months off and the kids do. It’s a struggle to find child care, feed endlessly hungry kids, find time to enjoy summer with activities and vacations at the same time as keeping the money coming in during both of my industries busy seasons; all while trying not to burn out by September. Welcome to adulthood, parenthood and single parenting!

Summer time has always been my favorite season! I love the heat and the sun. As a kid I remember summers filled with camping trips with family and friends, trips to the beach and swimming pools, endless weeks at my cousins, trips to the park for hotdog picnics and learning dances from different countries. As a teenager a lot of the summer was the same just being done with more independence. My favorite memories were camping with my cousins and friends, sneaking out and climbing over fences to go swimming in the middle of the night (don’t look at my bum hahaha), bush fires, parties, and laying by the swimming pool. Obviously, there were parents about, but the jokes of GenX staying out until the street lights came on isn’t far from correct. We were never alone. There were always tons of other kids around and we were always allowed in for lunch, dinner and freezies, but I also remember taking off and following a creek with the hopes of finding the bridge to Terabithia. Man, do I ever miss the carefree days of no responsibilities.

These days aren’t as much fun. I work in landscaping and in the event industry, so, summer time is the busiest time of year for both. Coming up in a few weeks I will be working 12 days straight. Most weeks I work 6 days a week, between the 3 jobs I’m consistently working. I do this just to get by. I think I’ve mentioned before that its still not enough but no one can accuse me of not trying or being lazy. Given that when do I have time to have the kind of summer I want, or to give my kids the kind of summer they deserve. In the past I’ve been able to take good chunks of time off work to go camping or on road trips. I’ve been able to take a week or more off work to head out of town with the kids and still be able to have enough money to survive. Not possible anymore with the way the economy and the price of just living is this year. This year I took the 2 long weekends off of the weekend jobs with the hopes to be able to escape to somewhere but the closer Canada day long weekend gets the less likely it is that I’m going to be able to venture too far from home. The whole thing it too expensive. You have to be wealthy just to afford the gas to go out of town. I’m left to try to find fun thing to do with kids close to home that cost little money and don’t require a lot of energy from me because I’m too damn tired after work to do anything but lay in bed and eat chocolate.

My poor kids. I’m glad that they do have memories of camping adventure, drive-ins, channel floats, family BBQ’s, hikes and other summer fun. This year looks like memories are going to be with their friends while I work the summer away. Some of my favorite summers, like I said, were endless weeks spent with my cousins. I’d call home every day and ask if I could stay again. This would go on for weeks at a time. I hope that their memories of this summer are as good as those memories were for me. There were some summers we didn’t go on any trips and I still had a wonderful summer. Seems though, these days, that kids expect to leave the country. Apparently, all their friends get to go on big holiday trips to Europe or China and us going to the Okanagan doesn’t count anymore as a vacation. My youngest keeps asking when we are going to go to Hawaii, Disney Land or Mexico, my stock answer is always “when we win the lottery”. Guess I’d better start playing if I’m ever going to get him there. Its hard not to fall in to the game of keeping up with the Jones’. Not that I can take the kids anywhere out of the country, but its also hard to forget that there is a lot to do locally on a budget. I checked local events coming and there are concerts in the park, family movies in the neighborhood, and cheap nights at the drive-in. I am so lucky to live in British Columbia where there are so many beautiful places to camp, hike and swim. Camping can cost almost as much as a hotel excursion but there are ways to make it cheaper. No one said we had to eat gourmet in the woods. Kids are just as happy with hotdogs and marshmallows. Some times that still might be too much so we’ve camped in the back yard or in the Livingroom. I’ve set a tent up in the living room before, but blankets would work too. Giving kids some sidewalk chalk, backyard pool or a sprinkler and some bubbles would keep most kids fairly happy. If you can swing it get your teenager a bus pass and let them loose. They will find things to do as long as they keep you updated where they are and what they’re doing so you don’t end up with a call from the local 5.0. I’m all for letting kids make mistakes, but not getting into trouble is definitely preferential. Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of kids getting in trouble. Give them a little freedom and they may surprise you. Where there’s a will there’s a way and my kids have gotten themselves into all sorts of awesome adventures in summers past. Only thing I guess I’d say is, you know your kids and how much freedom they should have at the age they’re at.

Gone are the days of kids heading outside after breakfast and morning cartoons and only coming back in for more food or the bathroom. They are all so hooked to their electronics that about 10 years ago I started taking the gaming consoles away for the summer. You can imagine how hated I am in the summer hahaha. Along with the kids not being able to just be kids and hang around the neighborhood with other kids, also comes this ridiculous expectation that kids will be constantly supervised by an adult. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying send your younger kids out into the world and let them fend for themselves. We don’t live in the same world as 35 years ago. There are scary people out there, and not just the abstract out there. I mean right up the street. Definitely know where your kids are at all times, but is it necessary to have your eyes on the 12 year olds every waking minute? Talk about pressure on parents and caregivers. My kids will be in the care of another trusted adult for the summer, but its completely unrealistic for me to expect that she’s going to follow the kids around all summer for the fear that something might happen. Kids will be kids, right? Sometimes they make bad choices or get hurt? It’s all part of growing up. Not so much anymore though. No wonder there are so many in this up and coming generation that can’t do anything for themselves. I’m not judging, my 8 year old still can’t tie his own shoes because I buy him slip-ons instead of taking a few hours to teach him. We are so worried about the scary people up the street that its hard to let the kids out of our sites, and to give them opportunities to find the bridge to Terabithia for themselves.

So, where is the happy medium where kids get to be kids, parents get to keep them safe, they make some great summer memories and money keeps flowing into the house. Is it even possible to do it all? Not likely, but it is still summer and even if we don’t make it to China, they are going to make memories. They may be shocked when they get older that staying close to home this year and being with friends this year makes some of their favorite memories. Or not, what do I know? Good luck everyone this summer! Whether you are staying close to home, like us, or going on some big trip hope you all have an amazing time!