The Summer Speech

All across America, moms are preparing to give their children The Summer Speech. Actually, you never really plan to give The Summer Speech. It just happens. The school year ends. Your kids spend a couple of days lounging around at home. They start to get on your nerves and suddenly you hear yourself starting out with these familiar words: “You are NOT going to be ________ all summer long. I am not running a resort here!”

For a long time, I thought it was my own personal speech reserved only for my dear children. And then I talked to my friend who mentioned in passing that she had just given The Summer Speech the day before. We compared notes. The words were slightly different, but the gist of it was the same: We needed to make a mom power play and remind the kids that we were still in charge.

It’s not that, as moms, we want to rain on our children’s parade of summer fun and independence. I, for one, am just as thrilled as they are at the idea of no homework and no early morning rides to school. It’s just that kids get this idea in their heads that no school means no chores, no responsibility, no waking up, no going to bed.....basically a free-for-all. If you want to scare a stay-at-home mom, show her this scenario.

And so, summer has begun at our house and The Summer Speech has been delivered, albeit to smirking faces and rolling eyes. But I can rest a little easier knowing that I’ve laid down the ground rules and can conveniently refer to them throughout the summer...when they’re ignored.