Summer Fun...Finding a Balance

Are your kids counting down to summer like mine are?  We can’t wait for the summer fun to begin!  But as a parent I’ve been struggling with finding the right balance between keeping them stimulated and letting them have the kind of free-for-all fun that only summer allows.  I feel like I get a flyer in one of their backpacks every day about some great camp or class and each time I’m tempted to sign them up for just one more thing. 

As it stands now my kids are each signed up for two week-long camps (one of which is the fabulous Zoo Camp at the KC Zoo…they LOVE it!).  Then my son has a class that meets twice a week for an hour and my daughter has gymnastics once a week.  And oh, my son is playing baseball so add two practices per week and up to 3 games per week and there you have it.  It’s enough that it feels busy, but that still leaves us with plenty of time for unstructured fun.  But then I get the flyer for soccer camp, and drama camp, and Lego camp and the list goes on.  I feel like I’m not providing enough structure for my kids over the summer and the guilt creeps in. 

But then I remember.  Summers when I was a kid were filled with bike rides, walks to the library, sleeping in, watching Saved by the Bell, lying on a blanket in the shade reading a book, going to the pool with friends and coming home exhausted and starving, picking flowers and playing in the sandbox,  playing tag, tormenting my little brother, throwing a ball at the garage, walking to Dairy Queen,  buying fireworks and spending hours just looking at them until the 4th of July finally arrived, setting up lemonade stands, calling up friends and talking on the phone for hours, family vacations, shucking corn on my grandparents farm, baking with my mom…

Yeah…I think I have plenty of things planned for my kids.  This summer is going to be a blast!