Weekly thread: How's Your Summer Transition Going?
Are your kids losing their minds, too?
Today is my kids’ last day of school after a series of seemingly endless half-days. (My 12-year-old has been getting out all week at 10:30am. Whyyyyyy.) Which means that we’ve been driving full speed ahead into emotional chaos. Actually, my 12-year-old is doing okay. But my 8-year-old…. oof. She’s put herself to bed in a huff without dinner twice this week, run away from me to hide in the woods several times, and has had more Jekyll-and-Hyde-like mood transitions than I can count.
How are things going for you? Are your kiddos managing the transition into summer with grace or pandemonium? Let’s share stories and words of support in the comments.
I find that the hardest part of the summer is the sibling fighting! My kids are 7,5, and 3 and the fighting feels like it’s nearly constant! Just wanted to post this so that any other parents experiencing this feel less alone :)
Here to VENT!!!
In Houston, we are in our 4th week of summer. First a trip, then a half-day camp at our school, then 2 weeks where my son didn't know anyone at his day camps. He is now 11 and handled that way better than he would have in the past, but around midweek, he runs out of steam. Last week, he woke up with a stomach ache, we let him miss a day + go for partial days after that (with temperatures over 100 outside for soccer and that seemed rational, though they had some inside space too).
This week he says all the kids scream at his camp, lots of screaming. He goes to a very quiet Montessori school so I'm sure this is jarring to him! But also good for him to see other schools and cultures. ANYWAY, now he is begging not to go. We've compromised on a shorter day. But I'm still like DAMN. Why do I spend all this effort setting up camps to have so much frustration when they finally roll around?
Also this week is archery + horseback riding, but he says they do more music and art than either of the named activities (1st day a horse came to them and they each sat on it for a few minutes, 3 days include a bus ride out of town to a ranch with horses).
Another misrepresentation I see a lot with camps is the stated times (in January February) of like 8am-4pm. Then when it really rolls around they shorten the day to be: drop off between 8 and 9 pick up 3-4. So you know they are just sitting around in those transition hours...It's a scam.
Additionally, Payflex, to pay for these camps with pretax money, and it's annoying to basically have the money withheld from my paycheck, while I have to pay for the camps out of pocket...then other years, to get the reimbursement, they've been sticklers about the receipts saying my son's age, but at least that was a bit smoother this year, though the money hasn't shown up yet.
And running off – my son did that around the age of 8 a few times, in an airport too! And some times after that and even within this year, but way less. Anyway, it one of the major reasons we started therapy as a family + it has helped with many things. We do equine therapy and it's fun + hopefully logging in some good relationship skills before puberty really hits hard. https://naturallifemanship.com/
Don't want to make it seem that Texas is all horses...like it may sound in this post, we really do have to travel out of the city (though all the sprawl!) to get to them...