The Last Days of Summer

My kids are bored. With me, with each other, with their toys.

And this is a good thing. School starts in two days. My kids are sick of being home. By contrast, school seems exciting. New friends! New teachers! New pencils! And I am actively, purposefully making things around here super-boring so that they can't wait to get back to school.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE having my kids home and wish the summer were longer. We travel, go to the beach, swim nearly every day, visit museums, do crafts, play with friends. I hate sending them back to school because I really, truly miss them when they are gone. (Ask anyone: I cry all the way home every year on the first day.) But my job is to help them separate easily from me, to become independent thinkers, to give them roots and wings. If things at home remain fascinating and fun, they'll never want to go back to school. So, to that end, I make the end of summer as unexciting as possible.

Slacker Mom lets me off the hook from those last big "hurrah" events of summer. No last minute rush to the beach, no "one more trip for ice cream" before school starts, no "let's get in all the things we forgot to do while we were lazing around." Nope, around here, we are trying on school clothes, organizing sock drawers, and tidying up the playroom after a summer full of playdates. It's not horrible, it's just not exciting. But this makes them look forward that much more to the first day of school. A new teacher is upbeat, energetic, excited for the new year. Slacker Mom, by contrast, is not. She's tired, sunburned, and disorganized, since she's been at the pool all summer instead of cleaning her house. Score one for school.

Slacker Mom Says...no need to kill yourself making this week fun. They've had fun all summer. Slack off and let them be just bored enough to make school the most exciting thing since, well, last June.