The Coronacation Diaries, Episode 93

One Step Forward...

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

Now that the kids are officially on summer break, I am trying my damndest to help them organize their summer. They can't sleep in until noon every day and watch youtube until 2 a.m. in their squelchy, festering bedrooms. They can't live on Pop-Tarts and Cheez-Its. And they can't snap at each other whenever they venture out of their rooms, like angry vampires, stumbling and cursing and bursting into flames in the sunlight.

Both kids have classes they want to test out of in the fall, which means they are going to have to study this summer. Both kids have band in the fall. I am paying over $550/month for music lessons, so both kids MUST MUSIC. Both kids have sports practice starting back up. Both kids need to go outside occasionally. And both kids need to help out around the house at least once or twice this summer. Good god, their lunch boxes from March are still on the back table. Their backpacks are still full of school. There are 127 shoes by the back door, and I'm fairly certain most of them don't fit.

In short, there are things both kids need to do.

I am working basically full time --more than full time-- between facilitating the summer institute and freelance work. In the in-betweens, I'm trying to put away a thing or do a dish or fold a t-shirt or make a meal. And I'm trying, desperately trying, to get the kids to do what they need to do, for their mental and physical health, and for mine.

I decided that they need to do the following things Monday through Friday:

• Do 1 hour of test-out school work.
• Be outside for 1 hour.
• Clean something, dear god, anything, for 1 hour.
• Do something physical for 30 min.
• Practice music for 30 min.

That's it. That's all I ask. The rest of the day is theirs. The weekends are theirs. For 4 hours per day, just do something healthy and productive. It seemed like a really good plan.

Yesterday, Sam practiced piano for 10 minutes. That was the sum of the checklist total. For both kids.

Today, Sam did some 6th grade math. At 8 p.m. he decided to ride his bike to the park. Score! He can double-dip on the exercise and the be outside! Helena, on the other hand...did not do any of the things. She didn't even make it to derby practice. Instead, she hid out in her room, a disaster of teenage anxiety and emotional exhaustion. Clearly, yesterday's blog post of hope was short-sighted and ill-conceived.

Tomorrow, we will do it all over again. I can only hope that we get a little farther down the checklist, that we get a little bit more done, that we all get a little bit healthier. 

But today, I am feeling like we took two steps back.