The Summer of Yes

At the beginning of the Summer I read an article about savoring the summers with our children because you only get a few years to create the bond with your children that will last a lifetime. The writer, who is also a Mom, wrote about summer activities and day trips for all types of weather… That night as Tyler & I laid in bed talking I discussed this article with another one I had read about trying not to say “No” all the time. We also discussed a news article I had seen about a little girl who lost her battle with Cancer & the mother asked that in her memory people had banana splits for dinner. Certainly there are plenty of times to say “NO” to our children for safety reasons or cost reasons. But how many times as parents do we find ourselves saying “No” simply out of laziness?  Be honest with yourself and you might realize that you have missed out on a number of memory making opportunities.  So that night as we lay in our bed we decided that this summer we were going to say “YES”. 

We said yes to community events like safety awareness day.

 

 

We said yes to bug hunting and nature walks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We said YEs to going out in our superhero capes and to adventures in the rain.

 

 

 

 We said yes to trips to the Farmer's Market and we said yes to blueberry picking.

 

 

 

 

 We said yes to squirt guns and water balloons.

 

 

 

We said yes to car shows.

 

 

We said yes to picking out their own outfits and taking silly pictures.

 

 

We said yes to swimming at the lake and we said yes to beach combing.

 

 

 

 

 

We said yes to dessert and we said yes to staying up past their bed time.

 

We said yes to riding our bikes and taking our scoters to the park.

 

 

We said yes to campouts in the living room and we said yes to sleeping in their underwear!

 

 

this Summer we said yes more than we said no and the reward was that we created some amazing memories.  I have truly enjoyed each of the last four summers but this summer was by far the best so far. Maybe because the kids can communicate their wants & needs or maybe because I have finally mastered this Mom thing or maybe because we were just busy enjoying ourselves. 

This summer wasn’t just filled with memories but also each of our children hit milestones.  Josie is now fully potty trained and her vocabulary is expanding every day.  Issac has reached two of his personal goals and now he can cross the monkey bars without assistance and ride his bike without training wheels.  Watching the children envision themselves doing something and then take tiny steps toward achieving their goals is very rewarding as a parent.  The excitement they get, the sparkle in their eyes, the shriek in their voice as the jump up and down in the moment is indescribable.  I can’t wait to see what kind of fun we can have next summer.  summer truly is a special time, filled with special activities and opportunities for memories.  I hope you were able to create and capture your own memories this summer.