Summer Vacation in the Wrong Generation

So my oldest two children go to public school full day. This time of year means one thing for us - summer vacation is almost here! My sons are, of course, thrilled. Me? Not so much. Facebook is a dangerous place for moms who don't thrill at spending every possible moment with their offspring.

For the last few weeks, my newsfeed has been laden with posts counting down the days to kids summer vacation (thanks, I got it) pictures of happy moms and kids playing on playgrounds, biking, strawberry picking and posts about not being able to wait for long lazy summer days at the beach and vacations and even more precious quality time. I have a really hard time not rolling my eyes with all this - I have to tell you. I see those posts and all I can think is "Barf!" This is where I feel it necessary to put in the usual disclaimer moms everywhere feel they need when they are about to admit that not everything about parenting is a thrill - of course I love my kids very much and I'm glad I have them.

 That being said, I often think I am a parent of the wrong generation. I do take my kids to the park and the zoo and for walks, but I don't get the enjoyment out of it that other moms seem to. It might have something to do with the fact that my oldest children spend 90 percent of their time jumping on things, climbing on things, wrestling and shrieking. OMG the shrieking. Seriously I have never experienced noises and mess and breaking things the way I have since I became a parent. In the last week, my sons managed to break a towel rack (by hanging on it) a curtain rod (by trying to hang from it), a ceiling fan (by throwing a stick up into it - why they had a stick in the house is a whole separate issue), and the Hopper box for our Dish TV which means that we cannot use remote control with the TV until the new expensive antenna comes in the mail.

I mean seriously which part of this am I supposed to be enjoying? Kids today play sports, and are involved in endless clubs and expect nonstop entertainment. And no matter what, it's not enough because we are raising a generation of children who feel entitled to everything, who are running our households and running us ragged driving them from one activity to another -not to mention spending all of our money on outrageous fees. And these kids have no idea how to entertain themselves. None. Why would they when every moment is structured for them by Mom and Dad?

 Let me tell you about summer vacations when I was a kid, and I will reface this by saying that I loved these times and they are some of my happiest childhood memories. My brother and sister and I woke up whenever we woke up. My mom worked at home and was usually up before us, but if for some reason she wasn't, we entertained ourselves until she got up, it never occurred to us to go jump on her bed demanding breakfast or entertainment. When we got up, we'd have cereal for breakfast and watch a little TV. My mom would tell us what chores she wanted done and we'd do them, it never occurred to us to whine or refuse to do them because we respected our parents and they were in charge, even if we grumbled internally. We spent the days reading, watching movies, playing with our toys and each other - and some days that was it! If we were lucky, my mom would take us to the courtyard in front of our building so we could ride our big wheels or we would walk over to the playground, where we would play and mom would sit on the benches and smoke and chat with the other moms. We would go to the library a few days a week to get new books and for story hour, and to the local five and dime to pick up new embroidery thread or potholder loops for my endless craft projects. At night, we'd have sandwiches and baths and call it a night. Going out to the beach or away for a weekend or to a movie was a rare treat, a big deal, a special day. It wasn't expected as a part of the daily routine. How do moms today do it? How do they make Pinterest worthy meals every single night? How do they afford to take kids to amusement parks and movies and on shopping sprees on a daily basis? And why?

 As for my kids, we are doing summer 1985 style this year, minus the smoking. They will play on their own. They will do inexpensive crafts and read and watch movies. They will play at the playground and ride their bikes. And I hope their memories of this summer vacation will be just as good as mine were!