Go outside and PLAY!!

Says the mom! I am so excited that the kids are almost out for the summer. After last year's mere three weeks of summer, I'm ready for a break. And I can only imagine the kids are too. That being said, we have one major obstacle to my own personal enjoyment of summer freedom. If I could just get the kids to go outside and PLAY!! They act like I'm torturing them when I make them go outside. "But there's nothing to do" or "it's too hot" is what I usually get. And then they are in and out fifty times because they have to go to the bathroom or get a drink. I'm tempted to stick them out there and lock the door sometimes! It drives me bonkers.

Now I know that my perception of my childhood is probably a little skewed. Time is forever when you're a kid. But I remember spending hours, free, outside with my sister. We dug a hole to China one year. (Actually it was only under our deck and we connected it to a hole the neighbors kid's dug under their deck. But still.) Barbie's committed suicide off the ledge behind our house. We made water slides for other dolls out of the rain gutters from the house. We had lots of fun. I'm sure we also drove my mother nuts, but it seems like we spent forever outside playing. So my goal this summer is to teach the kids that the outdoors is a vast land for fun and imagination. We'll see. They probably think that they are outside forever, hence the constant trips to the bathroom. But I am determined to school them in the art of playing outside!! Now go outside and PLAY!!!