Summer Time Blues
Why do we look forward to Summer? How is it we can so easily forget what it's like to have a house full of children, day in and day out? With their friends coming in without knocking because, heck, they're always there, anyway? To have teenagers suddenly sleeping until noon -- then staying up until dawn the next day? To completely lose control of what is, at any other time of the year, considered a relatively nice home.
And when they get jobs, it's only marginally better-- because the chauffeuring that went on during the school year is nothing compared to summer-time excursions, which can take up an entire day, if not marshalled and coordinated like a military troop movement. Especially with today's gas prices.
I know it's asking too much of a teenager to consider the duality of drop-offs. That is, while it's only a 40 minute drive for them, it's 80 minutes for you, each time. Because it's 40 minutes one way, then back home... then turn around and it's 40 minutes back again to pick them up. And back again. Really, I can see the embarrassment in their blush, when they're about 30 years old themselves.
What ever happened to spending the whole summer playing in the neighborhood? I mean, don't children EVER play with the other kids in their neighborhood anymore? And why is it they cannot seem to ride their bikes to their friend's houses anymore? Fear of kidnapping? Please... a kidnapper would throw most of the kids I know (including my own) back on the curb, if they knew what was good for them.
Don't misunderstand. I love my kids dearly. Really, I do. But I'm not blind to their "charms." And I know how long it will be (exactly 32 minutes), until their need of MTV, of their cell phones IMs and of their computer turns them into raving maniacs-- plus, I'd love to see ANYONE get my kids up before noon on a summer day.
Ah, but I wax nostalgic... because I just saw my daughter off to her first summer internship. Yes, she'll be spending her summer as someone else's lowly slave... and I'm sure I'll receive tearful emails from her as she discovers that summer can be... anything but fun.
And when they get jobs, it's only marginally better-- because the chauffeuring that went on during the school year is nothing compared to summer-time excursions, which can take up an entire day, if not marshalled and coordinated like a military troop movement. Especially with today's gas prices.
I know it's asking too much of a teenager to consider the duality of drop-offs. That is, while it's only a 40 minute drive for them, it's 80 minutes for you, each time. Because it's 40 minutes one way, then back home... then turn around and it's 40 minutes back again to pick them up. And back again. Really, I can see the embarrassment in their blush, when they're about 30 years old themselves.
What ever happened to spending the whole summer playing in the neighborhood? I mean, don't children EVER play with the other kids in their neighborhood anymore? And why is it they cannot seem to ride their bikes to their friend's houses anymore? Fear of kidnapping? Please... a kidnapper would throw most of the kids I know (including my own) back on the curb, if they knew what was good for them.
Don't misunderstand. I love my kids dearly. Really, I do. But I'm not blind to their "charms." And I know how long it will be (exactly 32 minutes), until their need of MTV, of their cell phones IMs and of their computer turns them into raving maniacs-- plus, I'd love to see ANYONE get my kids up before noon on a summer day.
Ah, but I wax nostalgic... because I just saw my daughter off to her first summer internship. Yes, she'll be spending her summer as someone else's lowly slave... and I'm sure I'll receive tearful emails from her as she discovers that summer can be... anything but fun.
posted by Marige | 6/25/2008 05:29:00 PM
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