doodlebug wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm dreading when the kids return to school. Our lives become so much more hectic.

No sports or activities or homework during summer...just camp, the pool, and lots of trips to the beach.

Racing home to get the kids to practice, then frantically finishing homework super sucks. Our Saturdays are filled with games in far flung towns. Sundays are the only day off, and I typically spend the day cleaning.

Ugh.

This is our life too. I love summer. It's so depressing that it's almost over.

Not trying to be nasty, but can you change your life? Mine are younger, so we haven't hit sports yet. I'm wondering if it's possible in this area to choose a less hectic path.

Nope.

We have four kids. Each kid plays one sport per season. We run in different directions for practices during the week, and Saturday is filled with games. It was hectic when we only had two kids involved with sports as well. Note: these are regular teams, not travel teams (which are an entirely different animal). Plus, the kids have ccd one afternoon/week.

Kids need sports not only for exercise, but for social reasons.

Enjoy your sports-free lives while you can, pp ;0)

Try one sport per year if it's making your life miserable to be running around all the time. Or set up a carpool w/ other parents on the team. Where there's a will, there's a way. Kids are way too over scheduled these days. Let them come home from school, have a snack, be bored, use their imaginations to combat boredom, have dinner, do some homework and call it a day. They don't HAVE to do a sport every season, even if they want to. Sometimes 'no' is the best thing you can give them.

No thanks, pp. I'm not going to tell any of my kids they can't do one sport a season because it's too hectic for Mommy.
My four kids are not over-scheduled; they each do one sport a season (except summer). How could I tell one or two of them they can't play a sport while their other two siblings are playing sports? That wouldn't be fair.

Fwiw, I've noticed that my friends who rant about "over-scheduling" and limit their kids to little (if any) activities seem to be the lazy, self-centered types who require lots of "me" time. DH and I can suck it up and handle sports for the limited time the kids are on teams. Soon enough, they'll be out of the house and on their own.

And thanks for the bizarre advice about carpooling. Um, we have four kids...so we aren't new to this whole parenting thing ;0)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm dreading when the kids return to school. Our lives become so much more hectic.

No sports or activities or homework during summer...just camp, the pool, and lots of trips to the beach.

Racing home to get the kids to practice, then frantically finishing homework super sucks. Our Saturdays are filled with games in far flung towns. Sundays are the only day off, and I typically spend the day cleaning.

Ugh.

This is our life too. I love summer. It's so depressing that it's almost over.

Not trying to be nasty, but can you change your life? Mine are younger, so we haven't hit sports yet. I'm wondering if it's possible in this area to choose a less hectic path.

Nope.

We have four kids. Each kid plays one sport per season. We run in different directions for practices during the week, and Saturday is filled with games. It was hectic when we only had two kids involved with sports as well. Note: these are regular teams, not travel teams (which are an entirely different animal). Plus, the kids have ccd one afternoon/week.

Kids need sports not only for exercise, but for social reasons.

Enjoy your sports-free lives while you can, pp ;0)

Try one sport per year if it's making your life miserable to be running around all the time. Or set up a carpool w/ other parents on the team. Where there's a will, there's a way. Kids are way too over scheduled these days. Let them come home from school, have a snack, be bored, use their imaginations to combat boredom, have dinner, do some homework and call it a day. They don't HAVE to do a sport every season, even if they want to. Sometimes 'no' is the best thing you can give them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm dreading when the kids return to school. Our lives become so much more hectic.

No sports or activities or homework during summer...just camp, the pool, and lots of trips to the beach.

Racing home to get the kids to practice, then frantically finishing homework super sucks. Our Saturdays are filled with games in far flung towns. Sundays are the only day off, and I typically spend the day cleaning.

Ugh.

This is our life too. I love summer. It's so depressing that it's almost over.

Not trying to be nasty, but can you change your life? Mine are younger, so we haven't hit sports yet. I'm wondering if it's possible in this area to choose a less hectic path.

Nope.

We have four kids. Each kid plays one sport per season. We run in different directions for practices during the week, and Saturday is filled with games. It was hectic when we only had two kids involved with sports as well. Note: these are regular teams, not travel teams (which are an entirely different animal). Plus, the kids have ccd one afternoon/week.

Kids need sports not only for exercise, but for social reasons.

Enjoy your sports-free lives while you can, pp ;0)

MoCo schools starts Aug. 29, and it's still not far enough away for me.

I am about to have one child starting magnet HS, one starting his last year of elementary, and one starting a new preschool, all within two weeks of each other. I feel like I could just scream. This is the first summer where it's actually been a total joy having them all home – no whining, enjoying one another's company, having the kids' friends over, and going to the pool every day. They are all into sleeping late at the moment too. I actually get up and savor an entire cup of coffee instead of leaving half of it to get ice cold, while I run around like a crazy person getting everyone ready for school.

I just really am not ready for it, even if I do still have another few weeks.

I'm with you. I love summer - I grew up on the beach as a child so summer reminds me of the carefree days of my youth. In order to keep it going, I've decided to do an adult version of study abroad this fall and winter... so I'm going to work abroad every other month, in a warm, beachy destination. Passport renewal tomorrow, then starting my bookings!

Anonymous wrote:To me it feels like the end of summer as well. I dread winter and the cold weather/snow. It makes me so anxious and depressed and starts for me every single August.

This is exactly how I start to feel in April with the coming of the hot and then humid weather. So interesting how similar the reactions are but to complete opposite times of year.

Anonymous wrote:Where I came from, school started in mid-august, so school would be starting soon. Here, school doesn't start until after Labor Day. There's still a good month of summer left.

? Where? We start aug 17.

Anonymous wrote:I respect our differences, OP. I feel about summer, the way some people feel about winter. For me the end of summer can't come soon enough.

I love the 5:00pm sunsets, crisp mornings, cooking, being outdoors without feeling sticky, and warm, comforting things.

I feel exactly the same way. Bring on Apple everything and soups and stews!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm dreading when the kids return to school. Our lives become so much more hectic.

No sports or activities or homework during summer...just camp, the pool, and lots of trips to the beach.

Racing home to get the kids to practice, then frantically finishing homework super sucks. Our Saturdays are filled with games in far flung towns. Sundays are the only day off, and I typically spend the day cleaning.

Ugh.

This is our life too. I love summer. It's so depressing that it's almost over.

Not trying to be nasty, but can you change your life? Mine are younger, so we haven't hit sports yet. I'm wondering if it's possible in this area to choose a less hectic path.

You have so much to learn. Even if you banned kids from sports, which is so unfair to the kids, they have parties and social things going on. Interests of their own you want to help them explore. It's easy to say "just have a chill weekend!" When your kids are 2. When they are actual little kids with their own lives it's harder. Sometimes you deal with the runaround because you have to, you can't just tell the kids everyone's sitting at home every weekend .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm dreading when the kids return to school. Our lives become so much more hectic.

No sports or activities or homework during summer...just camp, the pool, and lots of trips to the beach.

Racing home to get the kids to practice, then frantically finishing homework super sucks. Our Saturdays are filled with games in far flung towns. Sundays are the only day off, and I typically spend the day cleaning.

Ugh.

This is our life too. I love summer. It's so depressing that it's almost over.

Then why do you do it? If you hate travel sports, etc, don't let your kids play them. I know plenty of families who make those choices. My kids have busy school/sports schedules, but I like it. I hate hanging around the house, so I don't complain. But if I hated driving to "far flung" places for games, I would just tell my kids no. And, btw, my kids are swimmers, so they don't get the summer off either. Just a five week break, and then we're back at it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm dreading when the kids return to school. Our lives become so much more hectic.

No sports or activities or homework during summer...just camp, the pool, and lots of trips to the beach.

Racing home to get the kids to practice, then frantically finishing homework super sucks. Our Saturdays are filled with games in far flung towns. Sundays are the only day off, and I typically spend the day cleaning.

Ugh.

This is our life too. I love summer. It's so depressing that it's almost over.

Not trying to be nasty, but can you change your life? Mine are younger, so we haven't hit sports yet. I'm wondering if it's possible in this area to choose a less hectic path.

Weather tendencies, ranked:

1) 45-65 (low-high) degrees, and partly cloudy. Perfect crisp mornings for a run, and cool enough to crack the windows open at night and sleep like a baby, but afternoons are warm enough that you don't need layers or coats. Heaven.

2) Anything colder than that including Polar Vortexes, but without precipitation. Love cozy clothes, warm comforting foods, fireplaces, etc.

3) 65-80 degrees, but dry and NO humidity.

4) Blizzards! SO much fun for a day or two of heavy snowfall, while everything is still and quiet, and you hibernate home for a couple days. The cleanup a few days later is kind of a buzzkill though.

5) The kind of rainy spring we had. It kept temperatures down, but got dreary after a while. Still preferable over kinds of weather though.

6) Everything else

7) Anything above 80 degrees, and humid. THE WORST. There is no point. What the hell is the point? Why does it need to be that hot? We're not growing mangoes and coconuts. It's just unnecessary. Hell.

Back at home I used to go and visit friends at 10-11 pm since it was still light outside. I think there are couple of nights when it doesn't even get dark. The mornings are crisp and chilly, but the sun is up early.
Can't wait to spend summers up north and winters in south when I retire.

Anonymous wrote:I'm dreading when the kids return to school. Our lives become so much more hectic.

No sports or activities or homework during summer...just camp, the pool, and lots of trips to the beach.

Racing home to get the kids to practice, then frantically finishing homework super sucks. Our Saturdays are filled with games in far flung towns. Sundays are the only day off, and I typically spend the day cleaning.

Ugh.

This is our life too. I love summer. It's so depressing that it's almost over.

I love every season, even winter. It kills all insects.