The Lazy Parent’s Summer Manifesto

By Jami Ingledue — BEHIND DOMESTIC LINES

Mommies and mimosas. That’s my idea of parenting in the summer. (Daddies also welcome, but alliteration is more fun.)

Here’s the idea: come to our house. Bring swimsuits and some food if you want to. I’ll provide the mimosas. We’ll throw some grapes and cheese on the table for the kids and call it lunch. I will not do much cleaning before. The kids will run in the sprinkler, splash in the kiddie pool, climb on the playset, chase each other with sticks, play in the dirt, find weird bugs, make up their own games, and inevitably occasionally throw sand at each other. In other words, all the things that make summer fun.

My personal policy for these gatherings: kids play, mommies chat. No, I will not push you on the swing or play in the sand with you. That’s what the other kids are for. Now go play, Mommy’s talking to her friends.

If this sounds familiar, it’s probably because it sounds like our own childhoods, in which our moms locked us out of the house so they could get stuff done or chat with friends around the kitchen table. My favorite memories of summer are riding bikes around the neighborhood with friends, playing on the railroad bridge, jumping in the haymow of my friend’s barn, wading in the creek, and trying to catch crawdads.