Earlier this summer, I mentioned that I didn’t sign the girls up for camp. They did have a Taylor Swift “camp” - but it was a 5 day, 45 minute dance class, which I’m pretty sure no parent would consider real camp. It was cute, and one of the few options they could do together at 4 and 6. They’re enrolled in 2 sports, too, and seem to be having fun with that. So right now, we have one sport 2x a week (45 min) and I take them to a one hour class once a week at night.
The thought of packing lunches and getting everyone out the door for a few hours of camp, and the girls being upset that they couldn’t go to camp together made it feel very unappealing. I am someone who hates over-scheduling, and we are not morning people. My kids live for a lazy pajama morning, and love being together, so that’s what I gave them this summer. Some might say they need more, but they have the rest of their lives to do more, to feel busy, and to not stop. My kids have typically been in 1-2 classes at a time on top of school, and I really like to cap at 2. I prefer a slower pace and so do they.
Honestly, I’ve loved this slow, lazy summer, and the girls seem to be really happy. They should probably get out more, or maybe that doesn’t matter at all. We put so much pressure on ourselves as parents and half the time, when given the opportunity, they just want to play together.
Our au pair took Jack out this morning and the girls chose to stay home and play. We do force them outside every so often to scooter, bike, use sidewalk chalk etc because before we know it, it will be too cold for that. And we are not the best at winter.
We are very, very fortunate that they are best friends that love to play together. It’s rare that they argue which is the opposite of how my sister and I are. I want to take credit for it, but I think personalities are a big part of it, and they also had so much time when it was just us with the pandemic and treatment, so they rarely saw other kids until Kate was 2. My oldest is a typical oldest in that she loves to give direction, and my younger daughter is very strong-willed and takes zero sh*t from anyone. It’s one of my favorite things about her. So I’ll hear “no Margot, you can’t tell me what to say” in a very serious tone and Margot knows she means business.
The kids are around a lot, but I know every summer won’t be like this, and I’ve loved getting this time with them. I’m still working a lot, but it’s been nice to take breaks and hang with them. That said, I’d like to ramp up my low-pressure summer bucket list.
You can see my list of summer activities to do with kids here, but I’m planning on working on my summer bucket list since we have a little over a month before the kids go back to school.