We have a more relaxed schedule at my home during summer holidays than we do during the school year. Much like other families with school age children and parents at home in the morning, summers offer a much needed reprieve from the grind of the before-school-mornings routine.
A relaxed schedule, in my mind, is less about sleeping in until noon, and ignoring bedtimes in favor of becoming "friends" with my children, but more about the relief of being able to sleep past eight in the morning and showering mid-morning as opposed to showering at dawn. I still expect my children to bathe and brush their teeth daily. I still expect them to take their medicine when needed. I still expect them to make their beds. Essentially, I expect them to meet their obligations by completing normal tasks, only with fewer time constraints.
On one such summer holidays morning in late June, I was walking past my five-year-old son's bedroom. In-between sips of my coffee, I glanced into his bedroom to give him a smile, hug, or whatever the occasion called for. I was planning for this to be a bit of a drive-by so I could finish my coffee, until I noticed him squatting between his bed and his train table, not wearing his glasses. My intention was to admonish him for the oversight, and then to tie things up with some words of encouragement, when something caught my eye: in each of his hands were the different colored balls from his toy bowling set. Before I could say a word, he turned toward me; his face lit up into a massive grin as he exclaimed, "I'm growing bubble gum!"
Of course you are.
