I don’t know whether to love my children or eat them.
As summer wears on, it becomes clear that too much togetherness time between a mom and her young can be stressful. Even my husband isn’t safe at work because I constantly text him messages like “Watch out for the glue on the garage floor” and “It just cost me $15 to park at the Seattle Center!”
But this year I’ve created three rules for summer that have made a big difference: clean stuff, stop snacking on junk food and drink more root beer floats.
1. Clean stuff. That means tackling all the organization projects that I never find time for during the school year. My house appears clean on the surface — until you open closets and look under beds. The magical outcome of my organizing rampage is that our house becomes a better home to live in. Plus, we get a tax write-off from donating to Goodwill.
My kids are part of the cleaning process, too. Every morning I give them a to-do list they need to complete before they can earn screen time. They think I’m the meanest mom ever, and that makes me feel proud.
2. Stop snacking on junk food. Everyone reacts to stress differently, and my weakness is definitely the munchies. Eating through a box of crackers is not a great way to deal with intense family togetherness, and I don’t want my kids grazing on snack food all day either.
At school they have set times to eat, but then at home they have access to food all day. That can be a challenging transition, so this summer I signed up for a Klesick Family Farm box. Now our fruit bowl is stocked. My kids know that they can eat as much fresh produce as they want, but they must save their real appetites for meal time. We limit special treats — with the exception of root beer floats.
3. Drink more root beer floats. Our fridge is full of diet, caffeine-free A&W Root Beer. The freezer has a tub of low-fat vanilla ice cream. In our house, root beer floats are called “black cows,” and the recipe is simple. We plop a scoop of ice cream in a tall glass and then pour on the pop. Usually that one scoop lasts through three or four refills, meaning you can drink as many black cows as you want for about 100 calories total.
Permission to drink as many black cows as you want is liberating. There’s no need to crave chips or ice cream sundaes when you have a frothy root beer float in your hand. The best part is the ice chunks at the bottom of the glass.
So sock it to me, summer — I’ve got a plan to beat your stress. There’s nothing you can give me that can’t be handled by a well-crafted to-do list, a bowl of fruit and a black cow.
Jennifer Bardsley is author of the books “Genesis Girl” and “Damaged Goods.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
