Summer Sanity Savers for Stay at Home Moms

Rachel writes:

I admit it. There are 4 days left of school and I am beginning to experience the annual “Oh my God, what am I going to do with the kids all summer?” blues. Every year since they started school I have faced the summer with a sense of low level concern that I am going to be certifiable by August.

Here’s the thing, though. After a few years of this, I am finding ways to keep sane and even have a great time. Here are my sanity savers for the coming summer months. What are yours? Feel free to comment!

The beach bag.

I am not a beach person. I am a redhead. Redheads cower from the sun like vampires. But I have learned to overcome my phobia of old Sol by being well prepared. At the beginning of the summer I pack a big tote bag with essential beach items. SPF 6000 for me. Kids sunblock for the boys (who luckily have darker complexions.) An old tablecloth that doubles as a blanket. A couple of mismatched old towels from the back of the linen closet. With the bag I carry a beach chair and an umbrella. These things live in the back of the minivan all summer so that when we get the hankering to go off to the beach, we just jump into our suits and go. This could just as easily work if you joined a pool or have a lake or pond in the area. Throw in a gripping novel and you have a day in paradise.

Church.

This is huge on my list of sanity savers for summer. For a long time I was a member of a church that basically shut down in the summer. Sunday school was canceled until September. There were no summer activities for the kids. My new church, on the other hand, has started offering all kinds of things for adults and kids all summer long. For example, our high school and college kids are going to run a Sunday school ‘camp’ so that parents can continue to participate in the adult religious education programs before the services. This happened because parents talked to the priests and asked for things for the kids. Summer is the time we need it the most! If you don’t have a religious community, check out things like the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs or any other kind of program available for kids and adults.

Schedule.

I am a person who needs some kind of schedule or I go crazy. If left to my own devices, I wouldn’t be ready to leave the house until noon. During the school year, this isn’t a problem because I have a reason to get up and out every day. (School, church, etc.) But in the summer, I can find myself in my jammies at 10:43 am and wondering where half the day has gone. So this year, I am going to create a schedule for myself that requires me to be up and ready to face the day by 8:00 every morning.

Me Time.

Yes, I am going to hire a baby sitter once or twice a week so I can have some time to myself. Maybe I’ll go to the gym. Maybe I’ll do the grocery shopping. Alone. Maybe I will take a nap, take a drumming class, take a walk. Whatever it is, it is worth the $7 or $8 bucks for an hour to myself.

And speaking of grocery shopping: In my area there are stores that deliver now. So for that same $7 or $8 you can order your groceries online and the next day they show up on a truck. How cool is that?!

Summer is here. Let’s have some fun! Tell us in the comments what you do to stay sane.

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