Vacation Parenting

I thought it was challenging to parent during the school year--alarms to set, sleep deprivation (mine and theirs), homework to be done, schedules to be followed, and always somewhere to run.

I am finding that parenting during vacation can have its own challenges. While the relative absence of alarms and the resulting lack of sleep deprivation might be glorious things, not to be underestimated, I think I miscalculated a bit the value of all the other things that go with the school year, like...

1. A calendar or planner book that actually tells you what needs to be done each day. It's a bit strict, I know, but it does help with the "Mom, I don't have to do that," to be able to point to a page in a book that says, "Oh, yes, you do."

2. Partners in crime, or rather, in parenting. The words of a teacher or a coach or an anybody other than a parent can go a long way in motivating a child.  Vacation days might provide family togetherness, but they often eliminate those valuable partners, leaving you out there to go it alone.

3. Built-in activities. How many times have you heard from a kid on vacation, "Mom, I'm bored!"? School week activity schedules might leave you cross-eyed over who should be exactly where exactly when (and how the heck they should get there), but they are what they say--activities--filling, and filling well, hours of what could be "Mom, I'm bored!" time so that you don't have to.

Think I'm ready for the kids to go back to school? On the contrary, I'm actually enjoying the time, challenges and all. I'm learning that sometimes, I don't need a teacher to help me say "do your work." My kids and I are all learning to plan time without a planner (and to accept when not planning leaves things not quite done). And I am learning to stand up for what I want to happen, independent of where we HAVE to be and what we HAVE to do.

Soon we will be back to facing our normal, everyday challenges--getting up too early and working too late, combining school and job and the expectations of too many people--but with the help of all those tools not around over vacation. I guess parenting is a challenge, no matter when it is. But I'm working on it...