When I was growing up it seemed that there was always something to do during the summer. We had a huge garden, not only at our house, but at my grandparents' house, too. We had animals. There were chores aplenty, and we all had to help. When my dad wasn't at work, he always had something needing done in the garden or in the barn. Mom was busy with canning and cleaning and laundry and all the other stuff moms are always busy with.
I'm not saying we never had fun. There were a few times we went to the park for the 4th of July carnival and to watch the fireworks, and we went to the local lake to swim once in a while. However, there were also plenty of times when we would've liked to go do something, but home and garden came first. So, when I had kids I decided that I would make a real effort to do things with my kids. I would take them to the beach on warm summer days, roller blade with them around the neighborhood, take them roller skating, to the library and the park, and just have fun and spend time together.
I didn't have a huge garden or any animals to take care of, so I know it was easier for me than it was for my mom. Still, sometimes the house didn't get straightened up, because sometimes you just have to choose between having fun and cleaning the house. The ideal solution would be to find
affordable cleaning that would have
someone else coming in to do the dusting, vacuuming, straightening up, and cleaning bathrooms, so you don't have to choose between doing fun things with the kids or having a clean house. As it is, I just got as much done as I could in the mornings, so we could go out and play in the afternoons, or I'd take the kids to the park and let them play on the playground while I wrote my grocery list. Then, after a picnic lunch, we'd do our shopping in the afternoon. Not as nice as it would have been to have someone else doing the work, but it worked for us.
Did everything always get done? No, but that's OK. The most important thing was to spend that time with the kids, because before you know it they're all grown up and they don't want to do fun things with Mom anymore. The park is a place to hang out with their friends. It's no longer fun to go to the lake. They no longer want to roller blade with mom because she doesn't want to go down the hills, etc. You get the idea.
Once that happens, there will be plenty of time to clean the house.
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