It used to be, when I was growing up, that summer was that idyllic time of life – no responsibilities, just hanging out with friends, playing softball, riding bikes and being outside as much as possible. When we lived in Alaska, my brother and I would join a friend up the street in his canoe and spend the days floating on a small lake near our home.
Then, because it was seldom dark in the summer, we’d play touch football or tag or just go on hikes with friends until the streetlights came on (there were no cell phones 30 years ago so our parents had to resort to the old-fashioned way of keeping tabs on us).
Fast forward to 2008. As my kids and I were planning the summer, we talked about softball, summer camp, basketball camp, mini-vacations and swimming.
Nowhere in our plans did it call for me to answer my phone 10 times a day to answer mindless questions.
“What can we have for lunch?” “How am I getting to softball?” “Do I really have to unload the dishwasher?”
And that was just on the first day.
Keep in mind that these “children” are teenagers – both well-equipped to make their own lunch, find their own rides and look around the house to see what has to be done. But once that ever-popular, “I’m bored” enters their heads, the first response is, “Call Mom.”
We are now one week into summer vacation and I have the hours counted down to the first day of school.
