Are Lazy Summer Days Old School for Families?

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:04:00 GMT

When I think back on my childhood summers spent with my educator parents and younger brother, the memories go something like this: Pool. Pool. Backyard pool. Backyard dodgeball. Bike riding. Camping. Beach. Pool. Some day camp. Pool. Those days were all about embracing the sunny weather and freedom to sleep in and play late. When I think about the summer I spent with my husband and preschooler son this year, it goes more like: Work. Work. Daycare shuffle. Hand kid off to hubs. Bad prime-time reality TV. Travel. Travel with laptop. Obligatory travel. Music class. Playgroup. Park. Schedule. Schedule. Stress. Collapse. Wake up early and work. Like many other mamas I know, the return of fall and preschool and the regularity of the year has blown in some regret that we didn't kick back more, slurping popsicles and poking worms. It wasn't all bad, but it also wasn't lazy or hazy or even the crazy days of summer. And I wonder: How many families pack their summers full of stress and schedules, and are summers like these a rarity, even a thing of the past?

Sherry G. Antonetti and family's summer that "was not a verb" not only sounds delicious to me in the wake of three months of very little real downtime, it sounds just right. While many amped-up-on-activity parents might read her list of summertime family ventures --- including highlights such as asking what/looking up/forgetting what lasers are, not mounting the kid's paintings, freezing blueberries and eating peanut butter with baby fingers -- don't sound like much, I read with envy at all the nothingness that went on in their house and backyard. Perhaps in the same way I have a hard time remember exact moments from summers of my past, not doing too much in her house evokes a feeling of being happy and together and just being happy together more than a scribbled out and checked off to-do list of classes, capers, activities and pre-mixed adventures.

What was your family's summer like? And next year, will you do it differently, filling up the calendar or not keeping a calendar at all?

Why I'm Going to Vaccinate My Unvaccinated Kids

Karen Murphy — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:28:00 GMT

I'm coming to the conclusion that I've been hiding my head in the sand for several years now when it comes to certain parenting issues. My happy little parenting Bubble Of Goodness. I think a lot had to do with being immersed in a Waldorf school community and all that went along with it: the Attachment-Parenting, no-circumcision (I haven't changed my mind about that one), no-vaccinating, organically-grown parenting ideals that many in that lifestyle, myself included, subscribe to.

I'm finding though that as my kids get older or as I chill out a bit or maybe both, that some of these ideals aren't as ideal as I once thought.

For instance, no children sleep in my bed ANY. MORE.

And the vaccination thing. My youngest son has respiratory issues anyway simply because of Down syndrome-related anatomy, and for him, dealing with a serious illness like whooping cough could be difficult if not fatal.

And it turns out that there's a measure of social responsibility involved here. If the majority in a group vaccinate, those who choose not to can rely on the group to protect them from the disease the rest of them are vaccinated against. But when a large number in a group fail to vaccinate, things fall apart. Which is why the largest whooping cough outbreak in recent U.S. history occurred in Boulder, Colorado, the city I recently moved away from (not for that reason) and a city where a large number of folks don't vaccinate their kids.

But don't take my word for it. Julie Marsh at The Imperfect Parent explains it oh so well. And I'm okay with you making the choices you feel are best for your kids, truly I am. I still worry for my own kids about some of the issues that kept me from vaccinating in the first place. But I no longer feel that those issues outweigh the larger one of social responsibility.

What's your stand on vaccinations? Yea or nay, and why?

Strollerderby : The Imperfect Parent

Are Lazy Summer Days Old School for Families?

Why I'm Going to Vaccinate My Unvaccinated Kids