My white, one piece bathing suit with big hot pink hearts all over it felt cool on my skin in the southern, summer swelter. I was 8, laughing and running through the sprinkler in the backyard of our Beaufort, South Carolina, military base housing home. It was the first home we had lived in that wasn’t an apartment and we had our own screened in porch for bugs, two car garage and this glorious backyard with a sprinkler.
My mom was sitting in one of those lightweight, aluminum frame, plaid woven lawn chairs in her halfway shaded, oversized sunglasses. Dad was at work. He was a dentist right out of dental school, treating Marine Corps recruits on the base.
My best friend, Kristen, would surely be biking over any moment to pick me up to play at her house down the street.
What would we do today? One time her mom got a huge cardboard box for us to play with. We made it a club house in her living room while her mom watched soaps over our heads.
Another time Kristen told me to call my mom and ask her if I was allowed to watch Dirty Dancing. I had no idea what this meant but I knew my mom would say no and she did. HA!
I wasn’t too upset about it though because I loved riding bikes and making things. We would ride our pink bikes to the water’s edge where real pussywillows grew in the marsh. I had seen them as a drawing in a children’s book once. They may as well have been from another planet. I had previously lived in Korea and Pennsylvania where nothing like this grew.
We had so much freedom. Our expectations were so simple. There was a road trip to see our grandparents. I don’t even recall eating out at a restaurant.
That’s my 90’s summer and I want to bring some of that to our kids’ childhood.
We want children who can think themselves out of boredom because they have a toolkit of self sufficient things we’ve introduced them to. They need space and time to make something from nothing.
Keys to our 90s summer
little to no plans
spending little $$
not screen time based
swimming
walks
reading 30 minutes a day
Mom and Dad read to kids
kids checklists-chores and challenges they make up for themselves
crafts on their own
handful of playdates/birthday parties
Parents rest too
The Key Formula for 90s Summer
Think about anything you want to do in your 2024 mind and then find a way to do it for pennies and use what you have.
Waterpark?
-Get the hose/sprinkler out
Crumbl Cookies?
-make boxed brownies & teach kids how to use a toothpick to see if they are done
Drive through?
-grill Costco burgers and serve in paper wraps
Bored?
-card games: speed, gin rummy
-movies: Karate Kid, Back to the Future, Ann of Green Gables
-read: Indian in the cupboard
I do all these fancy things sparingly but with so many days in summer and all of us wanting every day to be a celebration, it can feel overwhelming in effort and $$. Use these tricks for 80% of your summer to save your sanity and wallet. THAT my friend, is abundance.
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