How Are You Going to Get Through the Summer at Home?
For several weeks now I have been focusing on a specific date: June 9th. I had until June 9th to make a plan for this summer. June 9th was the official completion of the third grade of my son’s school. On June 9th, the free schedule we had come to an end – focused on blocks of time for reading, studying, taking breaks and playing. And then, yesterday afternoon, he mentioned that actually his teacher was saying that they would be doing classwork on Friday. What tomorrow.
My husband and I worked from home, and my son studied at home, so the routine we introduced in mid-March gave a stream to our days. We weren’t particularly hard on this (start the break early of course; go ahead FaceTime with a buddy), but it took a “now what?” Argument. almost completely out of the equation. I’m not saying that it was easy, there were n’t many days – but we had something like a certain school / work part of the day and the freedom that usually comes from the evening and on weekends.
But then suddenly ( until June 9!) He has a summer vacation. There will be no school assignments. Setting chunks of time when he should read seems unfair. And yet: the summer camps are closed, I am still working, and he is waiting for a long, boring, lonely summer.
Now the situation is different for everyone. Many parents are waiting for the moment when distance learning will finally mercifully end for the school year. Some return to work, while their children slowly return to kindergarten or summer camps. Some areas open quite wide (I’m looking at you, Florida); others, like mine, are still buttoned up. But whatever your situation, chances are this summer will be very different from the pre-pandemic summer.
I always look for solutions and come up with a plan, but I struggle with it. Can I have a different, more relaxed, more summer-friendly daily routine? Let him play Minecraft all day? Literally all day ? My inbox is full of messages from PR people touting their expensive virtual summer camps, but heck, summer camp doesn’t have to be virtual! It is designed for the active, dirty and crowded outside.
So, I don’t know; you tell me. If you’re going to be working at home with your kids all summer, how do you plan to survive? If you return to work, how do you deal with it? If you are an important employee who has been working all this time, will summer look different for you or your children?
Let us know in the comments how you plan to get through this summer.