Ask any parent — summer has just started, and they are already losing their minds. For the next 10 weeks or so, it’s about managing expectations about social distancing, postponed vacations, and canceled camps, all while trying to balance work and other obligations that don’t magically go away just because it’s June. How do parents create structure, manage rules, and re-create the magic of summertime with the pressures of a pandemic — and 8:30 a.m. arguments about screen time?
Here are 10 parents who are trying to make it work.
A pool
Camille-Yvette Welsch, who lives in State College, Pennsylvania, has a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old. “We got a blow-up pool,” she explains. “Honestly, I ordered one at the end of March. There was no way in hell I was going to endure the summer without one. The kids and I are water people … not nature people. We cannot endure outside without water. So, to get them outside and moving, I needed the pool.”
Daily walks
Nandita Godbole of Atlanta has a 17-year-old daughter who is taking an online class and stressing about college. “It will be a long summer,” she says — but she’s trying to stay connected. “We take a walk nearly every evening to catch up for an hour, just her and me.”
A new YouTube channel
Laurie Lyons-Makaimoku, of Hilo, Hawaii, is helping her daughter and a cousin start a YouTube channel to educate other kids about what Hawaii is really like, not just what you see in tourism videos. “The plan is for them to do all of the hosting, storyboarding, editing, etc., themselves,” she says.
'Power Hour'
Mary Beth Foster, of Mint Hill, North Carolina, has a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old. In addition to loosely themed days — “Take a Hike Tuesday,” “Get Wet Wednesday” — she’s attempting a daily “Power Hour” — inspired by Gretchen Rubin. “We do 20 minutes reading, 20 minutes of chores, and 20 minutes outside. We try to do it at 4:00, which puts a nice hard stop to the ‘veg out’ time. It hasn’t been perfect, but we’ve gotten some stuff done!” she says.
Camp
Joanne Lubeck Esser, a mother of two, is doing a camp for her almost-7-year-old daughter. It will have pods of 12 kids that remain together for three weeks. “Heaven sent,” she says.
It’s a puppy!
“We got a puppy,” says Joe Bettencourt, father to 16-year-old twin girls. “The timing is perfect, and it’s all hands on deck with him.”
The gift of boredom
“We are all in this together,” says Eoin O’Shea, father of three (ages 11, 9, and 6), in Philadelphia. “If you’re bored — you’re boring. Figure. It. Out. Use your senses, kids. Hone them.”
MasterClass subscription
April Peveteaux is mom to a 14-year-old and an 11-year-old, who, she says, are old enough to take an interest in a MasterClass subscription. “By the end of the summer, they should be making me French pastries, have planted an urban garden, learned all of Martin Scorcese’s directing secrets, and how to be a boss bitch with Anna Wintour.”
Going old-school
Some parents are encouraging kids to embrace the kind of childhood they had themselves. “We’re fortunate to live in a neighborhood where it’s possible to relive an ’80s childhood, and my kids are loving it! ‘Here’s $5, get ice creams, ride bikes, and meet new kids!’” says Zoe Boyce, a mother of two boys in Seattle.
A little structure goes a long way
For Craig Mackay, a father of four (ages 16, 12, 8, and 6), in Camarillo, California, it’s about having a few key commitments in place. “Mandatory daily family walks and a personal morning bike ride make all the difference in terms of sanity,” he says. “And I have to say that quiet time from 1 to 2 p.m., where everyone is in their own space reading or playing quietly, is the best.”
