Boston Mama

Summer Vacation Part 1: Staring Down Boredom and Making Routines That Work

We survived the first week of summer vacation (barely.) It was all about getting dirty and figuring out routines and discovering ways to involve my 5 year old and 15 month old in the routines of work and play around our house.

We made popsicles (in paper cups without sticks—need to pick some of those up!) from leftover smoothie. The mess was fantastic.

We took a trip the local community garden to buy compost for our garden. Dirt + loaders and backhoes = happiness for small boys.

We made these graham crackers from scratch and enjoyed them with peanut butter very much.

But mostly, this week it was about deciding on some chores that Bean could help with every day to occupy his little energetic body in a meaningful way in the morning before heading over to his grandparents house for a few hours while I work (emptying the dishwasher and feeding the chickens.)It was about letting both boys be “bored” and make discoveries as a result (my husband’s skateboard from 1989 were a pretty cool discovery for Bean this week.) And it was about navigating the new terrain of sibling rivalry that seems to be emerging more and more as Sprout has begun to foist himself joyfully, playfully, and very enthusiastically into the very center of our family life (they’re 4 years apart. Any thoughts, tips, suggestions on this?)

And it was about discovering where my limits are, and about trying to define new boundaries between work time and mama time for me. I perpetually struggle with this, not just in the summer. I’m experimenting with ways to balance my very full work schedule. Because I work from home and most of my work is highly creative with long-term deadlines (this is the biggest project I’m working on right now) I struggle with breaking bigger projects into smaller chunks that fit around the available hours that I have so that when my kids are here, underfoot and eager, I’m not always trying to multitask in a way that makes them feel like they’re getting no attention.
My biggest breakthrough this week was: most of my kid’s negative behavior was the result of me pushing things a little too far—letting a good thing go a little too long so that I could finish something—until what was a fun time in the sandbox became sand in the eyes; or what was a rather reined-in chasing game in the living room became an full-out destruction of the place.

I’m curious about how you navigate this balance. What kinds of activities do you do with your kids every day—and what do you accomplish just for yourself/your work?