Summer vacation resolutions

Summer vacation is not traditionally when I think about resolutions. I associate resolutions with New Year’s in January, but also, like a lot of people whose lives are still tied to the school year as students, parents or professionals, with September: at both of those times, the air feels ripe for resolving to make improvements or implement new habits.

This year, though, I’m surprised by a sense of potential for fresh starts in late June. Since my two children started school, I’ve had some summers when I was working full-time for a traditional employer and some summers when I was self-employed. Either way, the start of their school vacation has prompted anxiety. When I was working full-time, what preoccupied me as the school year drew to a close was concerns about childcare: had I made the right decisions for the kids; would it all work out; would they keep busy and have fun; what if the baby-sitter called in sick? The summers I’ve been self-employed, as I am now, the worries are nominally different but the same at their core: will I be able to get my own work done, at least on a level that will meet my obligations if not break new ground; will the kids stay busy and happy in constructive ways; what if the plans don’t work out?

This year I’d be justified in maintaining the latter set of worries. I have a robust list of clients in my dual roles as a freelance journalist and a corporate copywriter, and plenty of deadlines to meet. But for reasons I can’t quite identify, I’m not worried this time around. I’m excited instead.

This time, I feel like the potential exists for new plans and new resolutions as we shed the duties of the school year. Rather than being apprehensive about giving up the structure of the kids’ school days as I’ve been in past summers, I’m happy that school lunches and pick-up times no longer speckle my To Do list. Almost like a kid myself, I sense that the change in routine that occurs with the end of school could bring with it new opportunities.

So I’m going to try to make summer a time of fresh beginnings this year rather than just a time of changing schedules. I need to maintain a steady work habit, but I’m going to try to pack most of my work into a very efficient three-hour morning so that I can do activities with the kids in the afternoon. That will mean working smarter and not giving in to the many distractions that I allow during my typical seven-hour work day during the school year. I’m going to try to get to bed early and get up early rather than sliding into late-sleeping summer habits. Since I’ll probably be doing my daily run first thing in the morning or at the end of the afternoon rather than in the middle of the workday, I’ll be less pressed for time, and so I’ll try to increase my mileage just a little bit, a few tenths here and there, so that my weekly totals add up to a few miles more than they have been in recent months. With the abundance of delicious summer fruits now available and the opening of our local Farmers Market next weekend, I’ll try to eat a healthier diet and cook more interesting family dinners. I want to take advantage of the increased travel opportunities we have this summer to prove that I can go on trips and still keep up with my workload; as a freelancer, I have to view time off as being a chance to balance fun with work rather than a time to get away from it all, but maybe this year I can really make that balance work out.

I have resolutions for the kids too. First of all, the usual: limit computer time for Tim and TV time for Holly. But a few that are slightly more optimistic in nature as well. I’m going to try to instill in Holly the habit of reading to herself when she has free time, something she’s intellectually capable of but simply hasn’t developed an interest in so far. I’m encouraging the kids to start a baking business together and work out an organized production plan for goods that they can sell at our weekly Farmers Market: I know they have the baking abilities, but I want to see if they can develop both the self-discipline and the collaboration skills to produce quantity on a regular basis together. And as always, I’d dearly love to see them both be dressed and groomed by nine o’clock every morning. Or by lunchtime. But that battle is perennial, so we’ll see.

It might be partly the cooler weather we had as school was ending that motivated me to look at summer vacation in such an innovative light. It’s possible that once the heat and humidity kick in, I’ll be as unmotivated as ever, happy if I can just keep the kids from quarreling during my morning work hours. But maybe not. Maybe I’ve had enough years now as a freelancer and mother of school-aged children to have learned that summer vacation is full of potential and not just full of time to worry about scheduling out. I feel a little like a kid myself as I look toward the summer’s possibilities. And maybe it’s good to be starting off with high hopes.