The Kinds of Summer Moms

Whether you homeschool or your kids attend school outside the home, summer usually presents a change in schedule. Over my years of parenting, I’ve observed a broad range of approaches to the summer shift. Below is an attempt at humorous observations of this spectrum of “Summer Moms.”

Activity Mom

Activity Mom has had deposits on multiple camps since January. The olders are going overnight; the youngers have day camps and classes scheduled at the local nature center. There is a bit of give in the schedule to allow for one family visit in July. Activity Mom is excited that the museum membership will transfer to the children’s museum near the relatives’ house. There’s so much to learn! When she isn’t in the car, Activity Mom is cleaning out the closets and reorganizing the pantry.

Nature Mom

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Nature Mom’s back hallway is full of shoes, and there are black handprints all over the back door. She has divvied up portions of the backyard garden for each child to enjoy—they can plant whatever their heart desires. Nature Mom has given herself over to muddy laundry and calamine lotion. There is a roller of mosquito remedy essential oils in everyone’s pockets, plus one in the Nature Mom’s van.

Snack Mom

Snack Mom has decided that the way she will fill the hours in the summer is with a constant supply of healthy, filling snacks. Children can’t argue with each other if they are contentedly chomping on carrot sticks or protein balls. Snack Mom is always at the grocery store. The neighbor kids love Snack Mom, especially when her defenses wear down a little and she starts handing out popsicles hand over fist.

Schedule Mom

Schedule Mom has a chore chart on the fridge year-round. In the summer, the chore chart evolves into an all-day chart, complete with suggestions for “free” time, reminders about musical instruments gathering dust, and reading lists. Schedule Mom loves timers and lists. She happily plans, but the execution of the plans is middling at best.

Feral Mom

fe*ral: having escaped from domestication and become wild

Do we all become Feral Mom in the end? Summer is a lovely time to escape “domestication” and be a bit more wild, even in front of the children you are raising to be (hopefully) domesticated humans! Dear Mom, take off your shoes and walk in the grass this summer, even as you fight the instinct to pull one more weed or make plans for an uber-responsible dinner.

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Kelly Keller

Kelly Keller is the managing editor of Story Warren. She has her BS in Elementary Education from Messiah University and has taught various ages, but her favorite was worldview and literature with high school students. The “gap” in her resume is actually a window of eighteen years of homeschooling, which she recommends as an effective, though demanding, way of expanding one’s home library.

When she’s not behind her laptop, Kelly enjoys live music, baseball, reading great books, and traveling with her husband, David. Kelly hails from beautiful snowy New England, but after two decades in North Carolina, she feels right at home.

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