Another school year is coming to a close, and as I sit and bask in the quiet of my home for the last full school day without my boys, I feel the need to put some thoughts into words...
As another long summer looms ahead of us, I am reflecting on last year's screen-free summer. Have we regressed some in our screen time since last summer? Yes, some. But not as much as I expected. We are flexible with screen time, and I feel that the boys have retained a lot of their ability to entertain themselves without screens. We still keep it in moderation.
Since last summer we have moved to a new home. The new house has a bonus room that we have turned into a play room. The boys actually spend a lot of time in there playing with toys together and this has been a positive in our lives, especially because the mess stays concentrated to one room. They can go to bed without having to clean up their bedrooms or step over toys on their way. The new house also has a bigger, fenced-in back yard with a large patio for more outdoor enjoyment space. And probably the biggest highlight is that the new neighborhood has a pool that just opened up since Memorial Day weekend. It is a very short walk from our house. That alone will give us more to do to get out of the house. This summer has a lot of potential to be pretty awesome!
This has been an awesome school year for both my boys. They have had amazing teachers and I'm very sorry to see this year come to an end. Emmett has had one of his best years yet, and his teacher deserves most of the credit, along with an experimental treatment for ADHD called Braincore Therapy, also known as Neurofeedback. It improved his focus and behavior and it's made all of our lives a little easier. Owen has developed a reputation for being the nice kid who makes sure no one is left out. As a mother, it doesn't get much better than that. I surprised him earlier in the week with a birthday lunch at school, because just like me, he has a July birthday and never gets to celebrate at school. I decided he deserved it for being such a great kid.
I'm trying to come up with some kind of experiment or theme for our summer this year. We won't give up screens again, because I feel like we still have a pretty good handle on that. Both boys could use more reading time in their day, so maybe we'll do some sort of reading incentive. I'd also like Emmett to learn how to type properly, so maybe I'll look for online typing practice. Owen needs to work on his speech over the summer, pronouncing R's and Th's, so maybe I can find something for that.
This post has been more of an update on our status quo than an expression of feelings. I am feeling emotional today, but I can't really define it. So I won't try. I'm going to do my best to enjoy my last day of freedom before I go back to being a full-time stay-at-home mother for the next few months. It's always hard, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
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