Kids and Grownups

Aren't I supposed to look like this in a tie?

Andrea Cerretti once wrote a comment on my blog about the mornings and how wrong it feels when we're all leaving each other, then how wonderful it feels when we all get home again. I keep thinking of that comment now, because it's summer break for my boys, which gives me that feeling of coming back together again times months instead of hours. I've also been thinking of my mom and the first day of school when we came traipsing up the lawn and she told us we were a sight for sore eyes. I'd never heard the phrase before that, I think, because it's stayed with me as a visually poignant description of how much she preferred to have us with her.

Sometimes I put crazy expectations on my summer, or at least tiny ones. How I'll engage the kids with reading and games and productivity, how many cleaning and sorting projects we'll get through. I don't have crazy expectations now, though. Some days I want them to clean something. Some days I'm thrilled to give them too many sweets and let them watch too many movies. I think about how to make good grownups, I do. But I also think about how to build a childhood they'll enjoy remembering.

I'm hoping in some ways one can lead to the other.