5 Rules My Family Is Getting Rid Of This Summer

Summer is here next week and like every parent, I am a mixture of pumped and nervous. Hell yeah to no more rushing out the door and arguing over homework, but worried about how we’re going to fill all these hours and arguing over snacks.

We definitely have fun in the summer and we don’t stick to a strict schedule, but we also have some consistent rules. The main one is that I am not your activities director. I have always said I am not spending my morning texting other parents arranging your day. If you want to play with a friend, go to the ones that are within walking distance and do it the old-fashioned way. Knock on the door and ask them to play. That is one of the rules I am ready to break this summer. Read on to see what else is going right out the window.

Rule #1 arranging play dates

As I said, I don’t enjoy getting in touch with other kid’s parents and trying to arrange a time that works for everyone among swimming, sports, and family vacation schedules. Not this year. I will straight up Google people’s names if I have to find their phone numbers. After so long of not seeing their friends, having to social distance even at school, this summer is going to be the time to reconnect with friends and foster those relationships. Bonus that I don’t have to entertain them.

Rule #2 Limiting treats

I am just so pumped places are open: let’s go get ice cream! Check out the new donut shop! Summertime goes hand in hand with popsicles and lemonade and mini donuts at the local fair. We will be partaking in all of it!

Rule #3 Bedtimes

We are still at the ages where I PUT my kids to bed, otherwise, I don’t think I’d care at all what time they went to sleep. But since it takes up my time and it means I can’t go to bed until this happens, I stay pretty on schedule with their bedtimes. If we’re just watching tv at night they can go to bed, but I am not going to end a playdate or an outing or a family event just because of the time. We have waited too long for this kind of freedom and I’m not going to give it up.

Rule #4 Family Dinners

We eat together at the table every night. Even on the nights when I don’t feel like cooking and a couple of the kids are eating cereal, another is having dino nuggets, and I piecemealed something together for my husband and me. We still eat our different dinners at the same time around the table. I foresee many picnic dinners ahead of us. We’ll bring food to the beach or the pool so we can keep swimming at dinner time. I’ll have no problem going through a drive-thru on our way to or from an activity so we can keep the party going. If we’re all home and we have no plans, I will definitely keep up with this tradition, but dinner time is not going to derail any plans of ours.

Rule #5 Don’t Do that

I don’t know about you, but a lot of times my first instinct is to say no. Maybe I feel like it would be too much work for me, or I’m concerned about bedtime or a possible argument between them arising. I’m trying to work on letting go and just saying yes more. My 10 year old wants to wear makeup while out grocery shopping? It’s not hurting anything. The 8-year-old wants to play Minecraft as soon as he wakes up? If we don’t have any other plans, let’s try it. We’ll do a campfire a little later in the evening than I would have usually agreed to. Sure, we can make a blanket fort even though I know this is going to take 20 minutes to make and you’re going to play in it for 2. I’m excited to see how this affects ME as well as them. Are we all happier, or is this one a horrible idea? I’ll keep you posted.