I’m truly sad that summer is coming to an end, and I’m very grateful that Labor Day was late this year so we had a bit more. Keeping in mind, of course, I’m not a full-time hands-on parent, Mike is. So – if you ask him, he might be begging for school to start.

I don’t want school to start yet because we’ve not even started finding a routine at bedtime for the kids. The last month of this summer, Peanut has been out and about with the next door neighbors after 2 months of being alone, that we’ve not had the heart to call her in for bed early enough. After dinner, we go outside, and if the girls next door are home, Peanut is begging us to play with them. They are biking and riding scooters, and using the trampoline, and catching softballs, and running and playing and getting fresh air and movement. She’s gaining confidence in her ability to be a friend (after a stupid incident at the end of school left her drained of that). So, I think this has been good for her.

I’ve even been less of a helicopter mom. I’m not outside with her, monitoring her. She’s with them. I’m trusting in their ability to work through all the decisions that go into getting along. You know, like our moms did. But because of the incident at the beginning of the year, we’ve been reluctant to stifle her time with these new friends until their mom calls them in. It’s not because we’re lazy about routines and bed time and so on. It’s because we weighed the good and bad of staying up later and decided to go with it. She’s playing. She’s getting exposed to big kids, instead of her two baby sisters (who she offered up for adoption last weekend.)

I remember having to be in earlier than all my friends and hated it. I hated that routine was more important even in the middle of summer. My world is still very routined (if I’m home and not in bed by 10pm, my body starts to move into the fetal position and rock). I don’t want that for my kiddos. Yes, routines are important, but I think having friends is just as important. So – for this month, for this year we’ve gone nearly routine-less. And while I’m worried about the first week of school with limited time to adjust to good routines, I’m choosing to actively ignore that worry and just wing it.