Do you ever think back and feel that things were much simpler when you were a child? I am not talking about the fact that you had less responsibilities, it just seems that things were simpler a few years ago. When I was growing up the summers were free time. We lived on a farm so we had chores to do, but by noon everyday we were free to play, ride our bikes, go to friend’s homes or have friends come over. There would be times we would organize a softball game but there were no planned organized activities. When I listen to parent’s of young children today it seems like the parents and the children are running in several different directions to get the kids to the different activities on time. There are camps for everything and teams for every sport. At times I think it is just too much.

A friend of mine that has two children and has them in every possible summer activity asked me if I could watch them for a week. We live seventy five miles apart, so I told her that the kids could come and stay at our lake home, but I would not take them to the activities, they would need to take the week off. She agreed to this, although she did say she thought the kids would be disappointed. She brought the kids over and left for her trip. It was raining the day they arrived so we could not go to the beach. I asked them what they would like to do. They both said they wanted to see what new tv shows my husband recorded. With all the running around they had not seen any of the new tv shows that had started for the summer season.

I had made cookie dough so they helped me bake the cookies and we made a pitcher of lemonade. We settled down in front of the television and began watching the new tv shows. Some of them were quite silly and the kids agreed they most likely would not be back in the fall. We were able to skip all the advertisements so we watched several shows in a short period of time. When my husband came home we talked about what we would have for dinner. We told the kids that we do not have as many restaurants or fast food places that they are used to. They said they liked eating at home because this is something they do not get to do very often. They went back to watching the new tv shows. My husband and I made sandwiches and packed the same picnic lunch we would have taken on the boat if it was not raining. We ate this in front of the television set. The kids said it was a great start to their vacation.