The Spring Break Hangover

Most moms are just coming back to normal after a week of spring break right about now (and it was even longer for some - Denverites had several snow days AFTER a week of Spring Break. Is that even legal?!?!) Did you go somewhere fun? Did you lay low and stay home? Was it a whole lot of hanging around, or a whole lot of running around?

What I've observed after 10 years working with moms is that whether we go all-out or keep it low-key, most of us feel like wrung-out dishrags after a week off. If you're still feeling the lingering after-effects of your Spring Break hangover, I want to draw your attention to something looming in your future...

...Summer Break. Did you just yell a 'potty-talk' word? Chuck your screen across the room? But seriously, NOW is the best time to think about summer. The experiences from Spring Break are still fresh in your mind and can help you think about what you want for summer, and you still have time to do something about it. Maybe I can help you ...

If your Spring Break left you feeling desperate for Monday, here's why:

1) Chaos

Humans are creatures of habit, and I'm not just talking about your kid. You had a whole routine and system figured out before break and unless you're one of the anal few who created a whole new daily schedule just for the 5 days of spring break, I bet you went from structure to a complete free-for-all overnight. And if you were traveling? Forget it! That is usually fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants territory for most of us. Is it bad? no! But can you do it for 12 weeks straight? Also no! On top of the lack of structure, you probably wound up doing a ton of things at once because your kids were underfoot. Paying bills, grocery shopping, work, home admin...these are things we try to do when our kids are otherwise occupied but that's not an option if we haven't come up with something to occupy them. Once again, doable for a week, but not paying your bills, or sending in checks with peanut butter and yogurt smeared on them is frowned-upon and that's where you're headed this summer if you don't get organized.

2) Running Camp Mommy

When your kids are home, do you feel like you need to have them occupied and entertained 24-7? Do they come to you and complain that they're bored every 10 minutes? If we're not careful, we wind up feeling like a cruise director suggesting shuffleboard on the Lido Deck or a nice comedy show next to the buffet (no seriously, my kids basically turn my kitchen into a 24-hour Old Country Buffet when they're out of school). When we're stuck in this trap of entertaining our kids, sometimes it's almost more work to stay home than it is to travel!

3) Being a Grownup is NO FUN sometimes...says you.

With all this stress, it's easy to understand why I hear from so many moms, "vacation is only fun for the kids." I used to LOVE Spring Break and summer, but it seems like as soon as I had kids I can't hear the words, "summer break" without also hearing the Jaws soundtrack in the background. When we're consumed with organizing, coordinating and entertaining everyone else, and totally neglecting ourselves and our own responsibilities and needs, enjoying spring or summer break is a tall order.

I'll be talking about Spring Break Hangover this week in the facebook group, so check that out. What I can tell you now is that these big 3 contributors to vacation hangover are all reversible. I'll be sharing some tips on turning them around over the next few weeks, and I've got something really cool to share with you soon that will banish all 3 of them and make this the best summer ever. Stay tuned...