The summer of 2019 was, like many summers I’ve experienced, busy. Between getting the kids to summer school, camp, baseball and softball practice and dozens of other events in-between, by the time it seemed like we were ready to finally relax and enjoy the weather, the urgency to do back-to-school shopping and the like was on.

I like my kids being active and participating in activities outside of school, but the wear and tear of playing taxi driver to them can be a pain. Remembering schedules during a period of otherwise schedule-less time makes getting places sometimes a hassle. 

I tried to set up a plan for my 13-year-old all summer — wake up at this particular time, spend this 30-minute stretch tidying up your room, mow the yard this day of the week, put your clean clothes away and take the dirty cups to the kitchen. 

Try as I may, my 13-year-old is more like me than her mom. Instead of following a schedule, she spent the entire summer waking up around 11 a.m. and watching videos in her bed for much of her free time. 

She and her 8-year-old brother did respond positively to me buying a tee and a batting net, taking turns hitting balls to work on their swing. But when the ball seasons ended, the exuberance to be outside fell off dramatically.

We tried to pepper in retreats here and there to make some family memories — a trip up north, a weekend in Ohio, a random Brewers game or to see the Mallards with extended family. But it all kept seeming like a drain. 

By the time the seasons ended and the free time at home opened up, it was the beginning of the school year for me — rosters, questionnaires, and working on the fall sports previews for work.

This past week we finished back-to-school shopping and took the kids to Meet the Teacher. I can smell relief already. No more can my teenager begrudgingly roll out of bed at noon and say “Sorry, I slept through my alarm” — the same one we went into her room to snooze every 15 minutes since 8 a.m. Now she HAS to get up, or else she’ll be late for school. Now I can poke fun at her for looking groggy every day as I drive her to middle school. Instead of coming home from work and being told about all this Vine video, or that new song on the radio, or how a squirrel was running around on the neighbor’s house, I can ask them about their day at school, and here a sigh before the inevitable “it was fine.” It’ll be my turn to annoy them.

Do you have homework, I’ll ask? “Not today.” I’ll believe that alright, because that was my default answer through 13 years of public education, too. I was the only kid in Wisconsin to never have homework — my classmates had homework, but I never did. 

Then I’ll take away their devices, try to act grumpy and tell them to eat their peas and do their homework before headed out to go cover a local sporting event. 

That’s a schedule we can stick to and duplicate. We will do it all over again, repeating day after day, week after week, until the snow melts and the temps rise back into the 80s and we go through another summer of being too busy to do things except for waking up late.

Maybe by then I’ll have a lawn Roomba.

— Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Times and can be reached at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.