Written by kids columnist Megan Tietz of Sorta Crunchy.

It is summertime, and the livin’ is easy . . . until you and your children hit that summer wall. You’ve exhausted your list of “fun stuff to fill the time,” the much-anticipated excursions are now just sweet memories, and the lack of rhythm and routine finally just catches up with everyone.

I don’t know if this is how the waning weeks of summer looks for your family, but to be very honest, we have been struggling lately. I have had to reach deep into my parenting toolbox to come up with effective, practical, and positive ways to maintain a somewhat peaceful home.

Although I have not read Lawrence Cohen’s Playful Parenting, I have gleaned enough of the basic premise to cobble together a few ways of keeping the mood light when storm clouds start to gather in the eyes of my daughters.

Because I want to do more than just endure these last days of summer, I’ve been extremely open to any approach to parenting that allows me to enjoy my children – even if I have to act really silly in the process!
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My husband has this little joke whenever the three-foot-and-under crowd in our family gets insanely loud en route somewhere. He pretends to press an invisible button near the A/C of our car, which magically scrolls up a sound-proof window between us in the front seat and those in the back. You know, like in a limo.

Total peace after that.

Obviously there’s still cacophony. The baby is screaming because that burp just won’t get out. Our second is loudly singing to whatever tune is on repeat in his head (he doesn’t talk, but he sure hums in pealing decibels). The five-year-old sits in the back, telling us whatever story from the day she wants to recall, yelling over all the hubbub so that we can hear from the front.

It doesn’t always work this way, but most days, Kyle and I look at each other, and we just smile. Sometimes one of says, “Three? Really?” But at the end of the day, if we don’t laugh at the chaos of it all, we’ll go mad.

See, it’s a matter of perspective.
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