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Health & Fitness

82 Days: Parent's Summer Survival

Summer is just shy of 12 weeks long. Here is my plan of attack to keep myself sane and my two kids alive until schools are back in session.

Eighty two days represents the 11 weeks and 5 days Parkway students have to enjoy summer break. It also represents the number of days that strike terror into this otherwise sane and loving mom.

Eleven and a half weeks (can we just call it twelve?) is a lot of 24/7 togetherness--for me and my two school-aged kids. Don't misunderstand me. I love my kids and I am intentionally a stay-at-home mom, who fills my days with activities that usually involve around, or are because of, my kids. But at age 8 and 13, my daughter and son spend enough time bickering while at home together. With the added togetherness, it could be a recipe for disaster.

So....what is my plan for this year's summer survival?

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I actually do have a plan. Thanks for asking!

Acknowledging the good and bad of summer is the first step for me. My teenage son is famous for uttering the words, "I'm bored. There's nothing to do.", while my young daughter's mantra is "He's looking at me.... He's in my room..... He's touching my toys." You get the drift. If nothing else, I have to strategize on how to keep those statements to a minimum.

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Our Manchester pool membership is key to our summer. It was a life saver last year, and I expect it will be this year, too. One of the more affordable public pools in West St. Louis County, we can be found there several days a week. No better way to beat the St. Louis heat.

Another key component has been to create a list of all the hot spots we want to visit over the summer. Over the last few weeks, I have purchased Groupon, Living Social and Today's Deals for various St. Louis attractions that I know my family would enjoy doing over the summer. So far, we have discounts to go bowling, Swing A Round Fun Town, Six Flags, Museum of Transport, and Sports Fusion. The local zoo and Missouri Botanical Gardens have 'free' days and times so I'll know to strategically plan those visits. Wehrenberg Theatres is continuing its free summer movie program this year, which is another place you'll find us.

As good as my plan looks for staying busy while enjoying all St. Louis has to offer, the reality is that we will still spend many hours at home. From a mom's perspective, these are the days where the aforementioned comments and complaints are made. I have been brainstorming new ideas of how to keep our house from becoming World War III.

As a parent, one of my greatest frustration is today's technology for kids: big screen TVs, Xbox, Wii, cell phones, computers--and my personal teenage nemesis, the ipod. Gone are the days of imaginative play and creative thinking. While I have always been mindful of how much screen time my kids have, summer time ups the ante on the amount of time they could be spending in any of these activities.

Therefore, I have devised a plan that my kids will surely hate. All of us (me included) will be "Technology Free" from noon to 4 daily. Consider it my "Happy Hour'. My thought process is that we should be at the pool, enjoying a St. Louis attraction, or be tapping into those creative juices for how to fill that time.

During that free time, we will all spend time reading since all three of us are signed up for the St. Louis County Summer Reading Program. We are also going to dust off some of our old board games and have made a goal to play ALL of them by summer's end. Since we are really enjoy them, this is a fun goal to achieve. Completing a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle is another goal.  Obviously, I have to get some housework and errands run, too, but I definitely recognize that I need to spend direct time engaging with them. Puzzles and games are a big connection for my kiddos.

Will I still hear the bickering and "I'm bored!"? Most definitely. But, I hope that my plan will ease some of that. I would love for Summer '13 to be the one to remember--for all the right reasons.

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