Supermom In Training: I think summer is more exhausting than the school year

You know what’s exhausting?

Summer.

Summer with kids.

The constant snacks. The wet towels and umpteen wardrobe changes. The little toys everywhere – a Hot Wheels car behind the bathroom door, a Hungry Hippos’ marble in the corner on the floor, a cardboard puzzle piece peeking out from under the ottoman.

Applying sunscreen every morning is exhausting. They complain, they whine, it’s in their eyes, it stings, it’s cold, why do I have to wear sunscreen, siiiiiiiggghhhh. 

Can I have a drink? I hear that about 42 times a day. Now the cups are in a lower cupboard and he fills it in the bathroom.

I’m bored. How can a kid be bored when he literally has something from every.single.shelf in Toys R Us, not to mention a house that has a craft room in it?!!

I don’t know what happened, but our calendars this summer have been more packed than ever before. I mean, I thought keeping up with the school to-do’s was tough, but summer stuff is just as time consuming if not more. And you have to do it all in the suffocating heat. It’s exhausting.

I think it’s because, as parents, we feel this immense pressure to give our kids the best… all the time… no matter what the cost (we’ll sleep when we’re dead, right?). We go above and beyond for everything. We want to make great summer memories for our kids, even if we completely deplete ourselves in the process. We plan elaborate day trips and shell out loads of money and take pictures and videos and share them on social media, and then someone else sees that you went to that beach two hours away so now you feel like you should bring your kids to the same beach… and the cycle never ends.

It’s exhausting. Summer is so, so draining. Am I alone here, or do you feel the same way?

Let me know. I have to go make a bunch of popsicles from organic raspberries that we picked at a nature reserve on a mountain overlooking a lake.