Summer Dreams

My childhood summers were spent in Southern California. We spent our days barefoot and outside. We didn’t come inside until we heard our moms yelling our names or the street lights came on. We explored, ran around in the street of our cul-de-sac, and road our bikes to Thrifties to get 10 cent ice cream cones and candy cigarettes (Don’t freak out. It was a thing back then. I can’t explain it.) I was always dirty in the best way and exhausted. It was amazing.

My kids’ summers don’t look like mine. They aren’t supposed to. But, that doesn’t stop me from wanting their summers to be a reflection of mine. My boys’ summers aren’t my summers. They are theirs. I need to stop parenting my kids from my childhood and start parenting them from theirs.

Christine Caine said in a podcast once that she can’t parent her daughter (when it comes to technology) from her upbringing when she had none. That’s not her daughter’s reality. It was time to stop telling her how it used to be and start parenting her as it is. What truth!

We need to stop trying to parent our kids according to how it used to be and start parenting them how it is.

It is time I stop telling my boys that my childhood summers are the best way to live and start letting them create their own summertime memories. Memories of getting to talk to and play with their friends on Fortnite (reminds me of party line for their generation). I need to give them space to create their own summer adventures instead of forcing them to live mine. It’s time I stop expecting them to live my past life (I mean, they are seriously missing out on drinking from the hose) and start letting them live their own. Most of the time, I end up frustrating myself because I am trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It just doesn’t fit.

Their summer is THEIRS. It is time to drop the stipulations and expectations for an 80s summer and let them live theirs. I cannot wait to hear them recall their childhood summers when they get older. I bet you I will be surprised to hear their descriptions. I can almost guarantee I will see their faces light up when they remember the summers past. And I can also bet they will have the same struggles as you and I when it comes to parenting their own kiddos in the summertime.

This is their time. These are their memories. It is time I sit on the sidelines a bit more and allow my boys space to create their own summertime memories. Because honestly, there is nothing better then remembering the summers of your childhood.

Love & Blessings,

Meg