Looking Back

A friend of mine recently announced that since camp ended one week ago, she couldn’t stand being home with both her boys. They were constantly fighting and annoying each other. Though I clearly understood the frustration, I thought to myself “how crazy is it that we cannot even tolerate our children home with us for ONE week.”

My children are still young, but I contemplated putting my son in camp or a summer program this summer. I vetoed against it knowing this might be the last summer before I succumb to peer pressure and put him in a program. Instead, I chose to plan an activity with my two children almost daily. We had a lot of beach days, we spent a lot of time at our friends’ houses in their pools, we visited many museums and parks, and we frequently made trips to the library. And though we had our share of fighting, whining and crying, I feel we had a great summer.

When I was a kid, my sibling and I were home all summer— playing in our backyard, partaking in games of hide-n-go seek with neighborhood friends, frolicking at the playground. While I do recall fighting with my siblings and probably annoying our mother immensely, those are the most treasure memories of my childhood.
With school just around the corner, I still have a long list of things that my family didn’t manage to enjoy this summer. My children now let go of those carefree days and begin their rigid schedule of waking early, heading to school and coming home in the afternoon to homework. Looking back, I am grateful for our days filled with making sandcastles, blowing bubbles and sliding down the playground slide.

And now off to school we go!