Summer Survival

I've lowered my standards.
And that's how I'm coping with summer anxiety.  No one ever told me about the anxiety that comes every summer as I feel pressure to make the summer memorable, fun, relaxing, but not too relaxing, and structured, but not too structured. 
I signed Marcus and Ethan up for Brain Chases, an online summer program that requires them to spend a certain amount of time reading, doing math, and practicing typing.  I decided they needed a little more education this summer after seeing them struggle this past school year.  They hate it!  But it's been good for them.  But I have been known to cheat a little bit for them.  Anything to make the whining stop!
I originally told the boys we'd have breakfast/scritpure study every morning at 8am.  They resisted.  After a few days I caved.  We do breakfast whenever I'm good and ready and if my kids sleep in after a late night of playing on the lake then so be it.  My mom would be horrified at this but since she's not here the guilt I feel is minimal.
I had big dreams of my boys spending summer days reading book after book since TV/screen time is limited.  They resisted.  I got sick of monitoring all the screen time.  Now they get paid for reading a book {I choose the book} and the faster they read it the more money they earn.  You might call this bribery.  You would be right.  But my kids are reading like crazy and they need money to pay for school clothes so this works for me. 
So you see, I've lowered my standards. 
But we're having enough fun that they aren't asking when school starts and I'm not losing my mind completely.  Just a little bit each day...

How I feel every day.  Summer is exhausting.  But in a good way.  Most of the time.