I think my children suffer from what I like to call end-of-summer “boring brain.” We constantly have conversations like this:
“Mom, what can we do?”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s nothing to do.”
“Are you kidding me? There are a thousand things you can do. You can jump on the trampoline, play on the swingset, play toys, read books, color a picture, put together your car track, make a puppet show . . . see? Lots of things.”
Blink. Blink.
Crickets chirping.
“Mom (spoken in three syllables), there’s nothing to do.”
I don’t get it. I, for one, am ready for school to start.
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(and as a little p.s., I feel like a dork about yesterday’s post because I really didn’t mean for it to generate a long list of “wow, aren’t you just so nice!” comments. I do not always walk around saying nice things to people, and let’s be honest, it’s a good thing I don’t say out loud the not-so-nice things I think about some people. But I have been trying harder to say kind things, and I had the courage to do it that time, and it scared the basheenus out of me, but I did it and she was delighted and I thought to myself, I really should do this more often. I am not a superhero. The end.)
Diapers and Divinity 
Yes you are a SUPERHERO! You don’t need to apologize for being such a great example!!! Maybe she was having a really bad day, and you changed everything for her. I wish there were more people like you. It seems like we’re all so worried about ourselves that we don’t take the time to pay attention to anyone else.
My kids don’t suffer from end of summer bordum, they suffer all summer long bordum. Needless to say, I love the first day of school and am glad that it started Monday. Good luck!
The first three days of school seemed to have cured my children of this same condition.
Best of luck to you.
You are awesome, so just deal with it, Stephanie.
(See? You’ve inspired me to say nice things to people just because!)
This summer went better than last. We kept the mind-numbing boredom to a minimum, mostly by bickering.
For the first time in many years, my kids are NOT itching to go back to school…. maybe because they don’t feel like we had a real summer. Where did it go? Seriously, though, there have been too many changes in our school district lately, so I’m guessing my kids are actually not looking forward to a four-day school week, and no more early release days, and two new principals, and no more music program…..
Ah, well, we’ll survive. In the meantime, congratulations for perpetuating Random Acts of Kindness in your community. If I had been that lady, I would have wondered at first if you were commenting on my sense of swimsuit style (which really doesn’t exist, and often scares small children), but instead you probably turned her world upside down with that tremendously gracious and incomparably kind gesture. You didn’t just make her day, you made mine, too!
Yes. I am SO ready for school to begin. I have one in school and one to start on Monday. It should be illegal for kids to start on different days. No?
Oh. And BTW. I’ve been meaning to email you all summer long. About how thankful I am to have you in my life. You always leave the most delightful comments that make me think.
I thought of your words to me many times. Especially when on my road trip with the kids. You advised me to enjoy it because it will probably be better than I imagined it would be. It was!
So. My point is. That with the school year FINALLY starting. Im getting more organized with this blogging thing And I finally added you (which I have been meaning to do for like 4 months now) to my reader.
Thanks for being such a great friend Stephanie.
You may say that you are not a superhero. And we will all continue to think that you are anyway.
So there. 🙂
I SO get the summer boredom thing. I said so many times those last few weeks that I was so tired of being a cruise director… do they really need constant entertainment?! I threatened so many times to remove every single item in the playroom. Because obviously, if they don’t have anything to do, they must not want their toys anymore.
All the threat ever earned me was an eye roll. FROM a five year old. Yeah.
It was definitely time for school to start.
Hi Steph, thanks for your comment on my last post. It was nice to hear from you.
When I had kids at home I had the perfect answer to the “I’m bored” problem. Just start suggesting all the work you need them to help you with. You know, the weeds that need to be pulled, the windows that need to be washed, the floor that needs to be scrubbed, the bathroom that needs to be cleaned.
It’s amazing how fast they can think of things they forgot about that they just HAD to do instead.