My Summer Vacation
I pretty much suck at summer. I never enforce summer reading and we
don't do enriching activities. Generally, I'm not really awake before
10am, by which time the kids have been watching tv for four hours (I
can't be held responsible for permissions I give while still asleep). By
the time everyone is fed and if I bother to get them dressed
it's already high noon - by which time I feel it's dangerously hot
outside and we had best stay indoors huddled next to the AC vent. And
since we're stuck indoors I might as well let them watch more tv,
because doing anything else not only takes effort, but will be met with screechy protest. And I'm lazy.
I know this is a horrible pattern, but there's always an easy rationalization within reach and the kids aren't complaining. Still, I am inexplicably drawn to the SuperMom Blogs, which inevitably make me feel like the slackiest slacker mom who ever did slack. So I get these crazy ideas that I will clean up my act and become a totally different kind of parent - one who leads her children in educational, fun, relationship-building, self-esteem boosting, community-minded activities each and every day. But by evening I've had to settle for keeping them alive, which is all I ever really accomplish.
I am in awe of these SuperMoms. But it's a bitchy kind of awe, as in - I don't know how they do it and I suspect the devil must be involved. I've been posting to this blog regularly for just one week and I have yet to figure out how one manages to write about parenting while actually doing it. I also would like to know how the hell they manage to keep their kids occupied while they assemble the amazing activities that are supposed to keep our kids entertained for hours (like a dinosaur bones dig in the backyard. Ladies, if I had time to dig, I'd have a garden). And then, I'd like to know how they're measuring those hours - is that cumulative? Because I can't keep my kids engaged with anything for longer than 30 minutes. Less, if I happen to be trying to do something they can't take part in, like brush my teeth - then, no amount of crafty, enriching goodness will distract them. Last, I'd like to know who is taking those photos of the perfectly coiffed children playing calmly with colorful activities, while a perfectly coiffed mom looks on in proud, loving bliss. Who the hell are these people?
But I keep reading the SuperMom blogs. I'm obsessed with these women who are balancing successful internet careers with mothering. Do I aspire to be among them? Not necessarily, but for now mommying is what I do, so it's what I have to write about. Yet, I don't feel like I have much more insight now than I did when I first held Peanut nine years ago. It seems that merely keeping the kids fed and clean leaves little time for reflection. Maybe my brain simply doesn't work that hard. Maybe I take children too much at face value and focus too much on the daily irritations of parenthood. Whatever the case is, I don't feel like I can relate to the SuperMoms.
Summertime is one of the worst times to be a slacker mom among SuperMoms (the other worst times being every other season). It seems everyone has a long list of things to do with their kids this summer, ranging from cloud watching to high tech studio animations. Me? I'm taking my kids to the pool and making sure they don't drown, in between letting them watch more than the 3-hour average of screen time and then letting them do it again. This is the reality. My ambition is to be slightly, well, more ambitious.
So I'm dubbing this week 110% Week. I'm going to see if I can step up my game and give my kids things to do that don't involve a glowing screen. I will probably spend much of the week trying to quell sobs, screams, and tantrums. I will most likely spend an equal amount of time inwardly cursing the SuperMom blogger who swore her kids loved whatever activity I'm forcing down my kids' throats. But maybe I will also dub this week Have Another Cookie Week, and everyone will feel much better.
I know this is a horrible pattern, but there's always an easy rationalization within reach and the kids aren't complaining. Still, I am inexplicably drawn to the SuperMom Blogs, which inevitably make me feel like the slackiest slacker mom who ever did slack. So I get these crazy ideas that I will clean up my act and become a totally different kind of parent - one who leads her children in educational, fun, relationship-building, self-esteem boosting, community-minded activities each and every day. But by evening I've had to settle for keeping them alive, which is all I ever really accomplish.
I am in awe of these SuperMoms. But it's a bitchy kind of awe, as in - I don't know how they do it and I suspect the devil must be involved. I've been posting to this blog regularly for just one week and I have yet to figure out how one manages to write about parenting while actually doing it. I also would like to know how the hell they manage to keep their kids occupied while they assemble the amazing activities that are supposed to keep our kids entertained for hours (like a dinosaur bones dig in the backyard. Ladies, if I had time to dig, I'd have a garden). And then, I'd like to know how they're measuring those hours - is that cumulative? Because I can't keep my kids engaged with anything for longer than 30 minutes. Less, if I happen to be trying to do something they can't take part in, like brush my teeth - then, no amount of crafty, enriching goodness will distract them. Last, I'd like to know who is taking those photos of the perfectly coiffed children playing calmly with colorful activities, while a perfectly coiffed mom looks on in proud, loving bliss. Who the hell are these people?
But I keep reading the SuperMom blogs. I'm obsessed with these women who are balancing successful internet careers with mothering. Do I aspire to be among them? Not necessarily, but for now mommying is what I do, so it's what I have to write about. Yet, I don't feel like I have much more insight now than I did when I first held Peanut nine years ago. It seems that merely keeping the kids fed and clean leaves little time for reflection. Maybe my brain simply doesn't work that hard. Maybe I take children too much at face value and focus too much on the daily irritations of parenthood. Whatever the case is, I don't feel like I can relate to the SuperMoms.
Summertime is one of the worst times to be a slacker mom among SuperMoms (the other worst times being every other season). It seems everyone has a long list of things to do with their kids this summer, ranging from cloud watching to high tech studio animations. Me? I'm taking my kids to the pool and making sure they don't drown, in between letting them watch more than the 3-hour average of screen time and then letting them do it again. This is the reality. My ambition is to be slightly, well, more ambitious.
So I'm dubbing this week 110% Week. I'm going to see if I can step up my game and give my kids things to do that don't involve a glowing screen. I will probably spend much of the week trying to quell sobs, screams, and tantrums. I will most likely spend an equal amount of time inwardly cursing the SuperMom blogger who swore her kids loved whatever activity I'm forcing down my kids' throats. But maybe I will also dub this week Have Another Cookie Week, and everyone will feel much better.
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