Summer Fun

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.

I have asked each one of my kids, "What is the one thing you want to do before school starts back up?" and they have all said, "Nothing." Done and done. But seriously folks, I'm not telling you this to suggest that we have had such an awesome, event-filled summer that my kids can't even think of one more thing they want to do. It's also not that my kids are boring. They do stuff pretty much all day, every day, outside with their friends. I've been experimenting from year to year with more and less planning over the summer. But I've found that as my kids get older the structure starts getting filled in for you with scouts, lawn-mowing jobs, achievement days, and actual interests that my kids just want to pursue on their own.

So this summer I introduced a minimum of structure. Every Tuesday and Thursday we go to a movie at the Scera. We do "cleaning crew" Wednesday night. We also go to the library every week. I'm not going to lie to you. Sometimes the kids stay in the car while I get books for myself. We have meals together mostly but the kids have had lots of "late nights" with their friends and Sam enjoys riding his bike along the river trail to Macys to get hot wings with his friends. So sometimes he's not hungry.

Here's a sampling of the kinds of things the kids come up with on their own:

One day I went outside and Sam's friend had brought over his riding mower and they were driving it over a dirt hill and down the ravine in the empty lot next to our house. Boys will be boys! (Which is to say, boys will be reckless ding dongs.)

One day Maggie and her friend invented the game, "Here You Go" for Ellen.

And every day Ben comes home soaking wet from head to toe, smelling of pond water.

So, yeah. They stay busy. But not too busy. You have to make sure your kids are bored right before school starts so they are excited to go back. It's not as easy as it sounds. You have to swallow your pride, big time. Every year regardless of what we have done over the summer--camping, trips, museums, once my kids went on a freaking dinosaur dig with archeologists from BYU for pete's sake--they always say that they did "nothing" over their summer break in that essay on the first day of school. Sometimes they do me the ultimate injustice of writing that they "watched TV all summer." That's when I decided Kindermusik probably wasn't worth the hassle.

And so, with one week left before school starts, I feel no pressure to make my kids' dreams come true because all they want to do is nothing. So that's what we're doing. It's going to make getting up and walking to the bus stop so exciting!

PS: Speaking of exciting, the $100 Visa Gift Card Give Away continues this week from 8/17/10 through 8/23/10. There will be another winner this week so leave a comment to enter. Comment on these posts for more chances to win.
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