When I was in elementary school I had a love-hate relationship with the summer months. I loved that school was out. I hated that I now couldn’t see my friends every day. I loved the warm sunshine, camping, bomb fires and s’mores. I hated the boredom, loneliness and being hot. To this day my family does not have air conditioning of any kind, not even a window unit. My dad claims Lake Superior is the only air conditioner needed on the North Shore. I know we drove my mother crazy hanging around the house all day. She started to sound like a broken record. (I realized that I now sound exactly the same.) But I also started thinking how wise it would be if I listened to the advice I was giving my children.
Go outside and play.
When was the last time I actually “played” outside? I don’t mean weeding the garden, planting flowerbeds, feeding the animals or anything of the kind. I mean just play. I should just pick up a ball and throw it around. Or sit in the grass and build something out of sticks. Maybe even make a mud pie. (Now that might be fun!)
Take a nap.
Yes, yes, please may I take a nap? Preferably in a hammock or the sky chair in the back yard. I fought naps tooth and nail when I was young. My mom would have us “rest” right after our lunch of grilled cheese and Campbell’s soup. I could drag that meal on forever just to avoid giving in and taking a nap. Now I think I would actually pay for the chance at a nice afternoon nap.
Read a Book.
In the ’70s (Or the days of the dinosaurs as my children like to refer to my childhood), we obviously did not have laptops, Kindles, iPods or iPads. There was nothing better than curling up under a birch tree with a good book. Thisis one order I took from my mom on a regular basis. loved to read. In the summer the bookmobile would make a stop in Schroeder and we would go in the front and browse all the way to the back finding two or three books to read. I can honestly say this was, and still is, one of my favorite pastimes though I just don’t remember the last time someone actually told me to pick up a book and read. Now it’s a guilty pleasure. I know that several of my friends and I try to squeeze in a chapter or two between laundry loads.
It’s bath night!
This was the worst. Sunday night was bath night in our house. We had to try to get in, out, dried and dressed before Wild Kingdom and the Wonderful World of Disney. Until I was six we had no running water or indoor plumbing so it wasn’t as easy as you might think. (Did I mention my mother is a saint?) I now truly enjoy an evening when I have time for a long bath. Thehotter the better.
So I tell my children, you be the parent and I’ll be the child. I will act on each piece of advice with great enthusiasm. I think I would be the best-behaved child ever as I played, read, napped and bathed my way right through the summer months.
It is a happy talent to know
how to play.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on an alpaca farm in South Haven, MN
with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North
Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys
writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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