Summer happy hour---with the kids!

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And so it (summer) begins…

Yesterday marked the beginning of many upcoming summer days when I worked from home, while two of my kids, almost 13 and 16, would also be home without any plans.

It’s the first week of summer for my youngest and the third week for my middle child. I was able to coordinate some time with friends and golf with Grandpa for four or five days, but on Wednesday, I had no such luck. My 16-year-old is much more in control of her schedule and prefers it that way—meaning she has no schedule at all.

The familiar feelings of mom guilt and worry began to invade my thoughts. What if they have “too much” downtime? What if they spend too much time on screens or social media? What if they don’t get enough physical activity, intellectual stimulation, or socialization?

For me, living with generalized anxiety means that my worries can transform into anxieties, going so far as to create what therapists call “cognitive distortions.” This occurs when my mind jumps from understandable, rational concerns as a mom to highly unlikely scenarios. My brain is particularly adept at catastrophizing.

As I struggled to fall asleep on Tuesday night, these intrusive thoughts crept in: What if my kids have too much downtime? What if their minds start to wander, leading to boredom that turns into depression? What if they suddenly decide they don’t want to spend the entire summer on TikTok? What if they begin interrupting me while I’m with clients, causing all my clients to quit and my business to collapse? Then I wouldn’t be able to pay my mortgage… and so on.

Time to make a plan