Mama on Vacation: Save Your Sanity

The tip that has stuck with me throughout my parenthood. My grandmother shared it with me when I was a young mother. Each summer she loaded up her four children and took them down to the beach for several weeks at a time. Back before air conditioning and microwaves. She developed many a survival strategy. Grandmothers know.

Now let me fast forward and describe the surrounding circumstances of current vacation times. After a few hours on the beach everyone is starting to get tired. Sunscreen is wearing off. Sand is in every imaginable fold and caked on faces and hands. We’ve enjoyed the crashing waves but now the toting of small children, the hand-holding and hauling of gear begins.

Folks are tired. The children are worn out too. And it’s lunch time.

I don’t know about you but I get every bit as cranky as my children when I come in all sweaty and sandy. Try to stand in a wet swimsuit and prepare lunch with a happy spirit. Go ahead. I dare you.

Here’s the answer. The one my grandmother knows. How to ward off all grumpiness. Are you ready?

Put on a dry swimsuit. When you come in from the beach, step into the bathroom and put on a dry swimsuit. The simple sanity-saving solution my grandmother blessed me with in the nick of time.

Now, maybe you prefer to slip on a clean, dry set of clothes. But, honey, you won’t be getting your leisurely shower during the urgency of meal time.

So go easy on yourself and plan ahead. Just lay your outfit or dry swimsuit in the closest bathroom before you head out. Change right when you come in. Then go feed your starving family.

Maybe on your own turf you save your sanity by applying this strategy when you return from neighborhood pool visits or from working out in the yard.

Part Four of Mama on Vacation.

• Part One: Surf and Turf – tips for snippets of vacation at home or away
• Part Two: Top Ten Tips for Summer Fun
• Part Three: On the Road
• Part Four: Save Your Sanity
• Part Five: Planning and Goal Setting

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