Waterways

Posted bywordsandcoffee1Posted in#family, Motherhood, PoetryTags:, , , , , , , , 
skip and scurry
across the pathways
like field mice,
searching for the next 
hideaway,
a close and comforting space,
a dock's safe slip of grace

These summer days go so quickly! Sometimes I feel like the field mouse I saw racing across the road on our drive to summer school this morning. His little back legs were spinning like tiny pinwheels: here before us in one moment and disappearing into the brush in the next.

One of the best ways I’ve found to try to slow things down are to have downtime planned into the day. The kids and I will spend at least a little time relaxing and reading between summer school, which ends at 1pm, and T-ball/baseball practices, which usually start around 5:30. Of course, their youthful energy means they can’t spend more than about half an hour resting, even though Mom would gladly read the afternoon away 😅 I’ve also been able to convince them to do somewhat more quiet things, like building forts or helping me with various house and garden projects. Sometimes (okay, okay, always) these activities evolve into playful wrestling and then an eventual complaint about a brother or sometimes a mild injury (pinching or shoving a brother has been a problem with the escalating wrestling excitement recently). Then, I have to break everyone apart and we start all over again with a peaceful activity. It’s a process!

What are your favorite ways to relax in the summer? Bonus points if you have managed them with children wrestling in the foreground.

10 thoughts on “Waterways”

  3. Reading is a year round relaxing endeavor. My sons are (and have always been) bookworms. One of the main outdoor activities in the summer was basketball (we are in Indiana after all). I’d sit on the porch in the shade and they and their friends would shoot hoops. Once they were in 3rd and 4th grade I wasn’t welcome to play since that wasn’t cool. Bike rides were also an activity we enjoyed. The reward afterward was usually popsicles or ice cream… I guess I was lucky but my sons never got into physical brawls with each other. It was always verbal jousting.

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    1. My sisters and I did a lot of verbal jousting, too, so this physical stuff is a bit new to me. I guess at least they’re just wrestling and not escalating to punches or anything like that. 😬 Basketball is a winter activity up here, but my kids all ended up choosing hockey over basketball. We do a lot of biking and roller blading in the summer, too; our driveway isn’t paved, so we sometimes have to take a little journey to a nicer spot for blading.

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      1. Not having a paved drive is a real inconvenience! My sons went through a roller blading phase when the neighbor kids would play a derivative of street hockey in the cul de sac. Nearly every house has a basketball hoop in the driveway – they play all year as long as there isn’t any snow on the driveway! Then they take it indoors!

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      2. I think it would be fun to live in a little cul de sac area like that, but my husband is a huge fan of living out in the country and having lots of space (and I have to admit, having a few acres and no close neighbors does have its perks). I grew up in the middle of nowhere, so I always kind of envy cute little neighborhoods and not having to drive everywhere. I think a good compromise would be a paved driveway. That is our plan after we build a larger garage/pole shed. Everything is expensive these days, so it’s one step at a time, lol.

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      3. We had our driveway repoured. The most expensive part was breaking up the existing cement and hauling it away! I lived in the country growing up and I’ve been a city dweller since graduating college. There are benefits to both… but having neighbors can be a big benefit for the kids…

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