loving art, science and creative kids

 Hood River Bed and Breakfast 

Acrylic painting on canvas 28” x 32” :  $ 399.

When traveling we often stay in a bed and breakfast. 

Summertime—Was the Living Easy?

Vision of My Young Self
School is over and the fun begins. No more homework! Lazy days lie before me with nothing to do and no where to go. I can’t wait to get out my bicycle and go exploring the woods with my cousin.  I’m going to sleep late and do nothing, nothing, nothing! Maybe I’ll see a few friends, eat a lot of ice cream and swim if it is hot. A whole two months for play.  .  .  Mom, I’m bored. There’s nothing to do. I miss my friends. When does school start again?

Vision of My Parents
The kids are home, what am I going to do with them? They are underfoot, tracking in dirt, bored, wanting me to entertain them, constantly hungry and exhausting me. I have to take them everywhere with me: to the grocery store, to the cleaners and to their play dates. The good side is that I don’t have to wake up early and run around like a mad woman to be sure they are ready for school on time. No school lunches to prepare.

I need to get organized, plan fun things to do together like going to the park on our bicycles. Do I need to do more? Is it true that children lose a lot of what they have learned during the school year when they stop academics in the summer? I suppose summer means that I am the teacher or counselor. What do I want them to learn? The school suggests daily time with work books that they sold at the end of the year. Should I have them spend some of their time doing math or writing so they will not fall back in school? Perhaps I’ll send them away to camp or sign them up for swimming and tennis lessons. Maybe we can go to the beach for a family vacation and stock up on vitamin D. Do they still need to practice the piano during vacation?

I can’t wait for school to start again.  Yea! it’s finally time. The kids start next week. My sister’s children returned in mid-August. Imagine that! Lucky her.

Vision of Myself as a Parent Before I Started Work
It is so much more relaxing when the kids are off from school, but I need to organize myself to ensure they are busy. It’s no fun when they hang around bored. I want them to spend a lot of time outdoors but I also want them to keep learning. This is my time to round out the gaps in their school education. Nature camp or science camp for a few weeks seems like a good start, but my budget is tight this year. I will plan to arrange for a few excursions of my own. We might start with a tracking expedition in the woods. Later we can use our underwater scope to check out the creek and collect water samples to analyze. Food is a big issue so working on a garden would be fun. I think I will get a food dehydrator so we can take fresh fruit and make our own snacks. Fun, fun, fun! I like being the home teacher but I am lucky that I do not have to go to work.

Well, you can get too much of a good thing.  I can’t get anything done when the kids are underfoot.  When does school start?  I’m liking forward to Labor Day.  

Vision of Myself as a Parent After I Started to Work
The kids are off from school. How am I going to manage? Do I just leave them home by themselves all day or do I have to pay for a babysitter? There are lots of summer programs but they cost money. Perhaps I can arrange different hours in order to take turns with my husband for home time. I wonder if my mother or sister will help out a bit.  This is going to be a very exhausting summer. I have an idea. I am going to speak to my friend and see if she will exchange care time. I’ll take half a day and she can take the other half. If I have to work longer hours, then I will just have to pay for a sitter. We will plan for a family vacation and do some fun activities each day. The kids can help out around the house. I wonder if there are any free parks and recreation programs available this summer?

Why don’t the schools take responsibility for children over the summer? They should institute year round classes?  Camps are too expensive.  Labor Day is soon approaching. We’ll have a family barbecue to mark the occasion and then off to school the next day. Yea!  

But, so sad too. My high school graduate will be entering college and I have to drop her off next week.  I will miss her . . . even the arguments. A bitter-sweet time for sure. Hope she will be all right on her own.

Vision of Myself as a Grandparent
My grandchildren could be quite a burden on their parents this summer. The 16-year-old is lucky because she found a job, but the others are going to need attention. I think I will send some money so they can go to a week of camp. Ray and I will be taking two of them to the coast for a week, maybe even the mountains. That should help, and it will be a great time to get to know them better. When I was a child, my grandparents were always there to for me. I was lucky because the women and children in our extended family went to the beach for the summer. Men visited on weekends. That is not commonly done these days. My kids work and their children can’t be left alone. Too bad government austerity is making our city’s parks and recreation department cut their programs. I am glad the swimming pool is still open, though. I do wonder about my grandchildren. They do not appear to have the freedom to roam that I did as a child.

Oh my, I do miss having my family around, but on the other hand I like to travel.  We always wait until the children are back in school before planning a vacation. Who wants little ones running around the tourist sites and crying in restaurants?

Art is always for sale. Contact me at [email protected] for more information.