Summer Survival Guide

If you still have children in your house, then consider this your survival guide for the long summer break. If you’re a grandparent and only have the grands visiting you for a week or two during the summer, please take heed. This guide is for you too. At the end of this story, you’ll have what you need to make the summer much happier for you and them. 

After completing my first year as a kindergarten paraprofessional, I can truthfully say that folks are really excited about the upcoming summer break. Some are looking forward to sleeping late; others are going to relax in a recliner, do a whole bunch of nothing, and catch up on their favorite television programs. Without exception, everyone is looking forward to that big summer vacation. And those are comments from my fellow teachers. But what are the kids looking forward to doing during the long summer break? 

Depending upon their age, what kids are looking forward doing during the time away from school is similar to those of their grownup counterparts. Like teachers, the kids are looking forward a long summer break full of sleeping late. For the lower grades, sleeping late means getting up at eight or nine o’clock. For those teenagers out there, sleeping late means reluctantly having to get up around noon. 

Reader Warning: don’t try to wake a sleeping teenager during the summer before noon for any reason! I would say noon is the natural feeding time for a teenager, but if you have one at the house, you already know that feeding time for teenagers is anytime they’re not sleeping.

When kids finally awake from their summer slumber, parents have already been up for hours. Even though it’s summer, laundry still must be done, bathrooms need to be cleaned, and floors vacuumed. I find “adulting” is harder during the summer than just about any other time of the year.

While I might recommend trying to get the teenager staying at your house to help with all the chores, you’d have to wake them, and you certainly don’t want to do that. Besides, helping around the house is like…well, work. Why should they work? They’re only kids. And we all know how unfair it is to ask a teenager to help. Just ask them and they will be happy to tell you. They may even answer in “that tone” that drives you absolutely crazy. A teenager’s tone can have many underlying meanings. Here are but a few:

I know more than you. 

Why should I get out of bed? It’s not even noon yet. 

Why are you asking me to do my laundry or clean up my room or my bathroom? 

You don’t understand me. You obviously were never a kid.

Yep, if you want a nice peaceful summer, it’s best just to do all the work yourself. Besides, doing so will allow your teenager to be on their phone or computer all day. This makes the teenager almost as happy as eating all day. After all, they need time to rest up from the stresses of their long school year.   

Kids under the age of eleven are not yet teenagers so their definition of a happy summer is different from an older sibling’s definition. They are looking forward to a vacation to the beach or mountains. They are content playing games on their computer or texting on their phone but will still play games with you. If asked, they will spend hours cleaning their rooms and even enjoy going grocery shopping. And stopping at the local ice cream parlor on the way back home and buying them a cone of their favorite flavor will keep them happy enough so they will help you unload all those groceries when you get back home. And when asked a question, they usually won’t answer with “that tone.”

To conclude, here is my to-do list to survive summer with kids. 

First, have lots of food at the house. You might think you have enough, but if you’re living with a teenager (or two), you don’t. Go back to the store and buy more.

Second, let sleeping teenagers sleep. Don’t wake them or you will also wake “that tone.”

Third, try to ignore “that tone” if at all possible. Teenagers don’t really understand what you’re talking about anyway, but they will when they have a teenager of their own. 

Fourth, let them play an hour on their device and then require they take an hour off. From my experience, that’s the best you’re gonna get.

Lastly, take lots of pictures and videos of your kids and grandkids. This time in their life, and yours, is short-lived. Take the time from adulting to enjoy your summer with kids, especially if you have Littles. I have over 65,000 pictures and videos stored in my phone. They are over the last twelve years with our two granddaughters, and most are from the summertime. For years, each day I’ve sent a good morning and good night picture to our granddaughters. Sadly, sometimes, they respond that they don’t remember a certain picture…it was so long ago.

But, I still do.