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A Note From Your Publisher: The one about the end of summer panic 📝

By Christen Reiner, Macaroni KID Lakewood-Littleton & Macaroni KID Denver Editor and Publisher July 23, 2022

Hey Mac Families,

The end of summer panic is setting in at my house. I'm sure you know what that is... the part of summer when school is looming and you feel like you have to squeeze in all of the fun during the last of your free days.

For my kids, this is a big problem. My teenage daughter, in particular, is under a massive amount of stress to do all of the summer things with her friends before senior year kicks off.

I have to admit, though, that I am also affected. 

Have I done enough this summer to plan the activities that they will have memories of for life? 

Did we make good use of the season passes that we swore we would use enough to "pay for themselves"? 

Did we have enough fun that I won't look back after school starts and wish for just a little more summertime?

Don't get me wrong... summer is at least a bit difficult for most moms. Sure, we love the lack of schedule (well, most of the time), and the freedom to sleep in a little longer is nice. No homework is a definite plus. But the lack of structure, the pressure to make summer amazing for our families, and the difficulty in finding some peace and quiet for ourselves weighs on us. So moms (and dads) are often ready for summer to end.

But once in awhile, I dread the start of school. As I mentioned, my daughter is a senior this year. After going through that with my oldest, I know what is in store for us this year... a weird mix of loving the fun "senior" stuff and knowing that this is the year of lasts and that everything will change in what seems like minutes. 

This is one of those summers.

So, I will work late at night so that we can squeeze in just a tiny bit more of summer into our days. I will add a few more fun things to our calendar. We'll have some extra movie nights and eat a few more rounds of ice cream. We'll stay up late and sleep in (well, except for my youngest who gets up at the crack no matter how late he stays up...someday, I'll miss that). We'll trade cleaning for swimming and relish the mess that will one day be nonexistent. 

That one day is creeping up on me, and it is too soon. 

So I will embrace the end of summer panic and we will use it to create an end of summer bucket list instead. Wait, I take that back. I think we'll call it a Summer Panic List. I think that will create a funny memory for later.

Check. :)

Peace ☮️, Love ❤️, & Macaroni 🌼,

Christen