Safe Harbor Coronado - The Dog Days of Summer

By ANNIE GARDNER

Ah, August. The dog days of summer. I remember these days from my childhood. The last remaining weeks of freedom –the days where time suspends and families sluggishly swim through the honey-colored haze of vacation mode - at once thankful for the break and desperate to get back to routine. Parents loosen the reins; kids revel in a little bit more freedom. It’s staying up late and sleeping in. It’s smores for dinner and popsicles for breakfast.

It’s sandy toes and salty hair. It’s sleepovers, campfires, bike rides and beautiful sunsets. It’s simultaneously fast and slow. And for a kid, it is glorious.

As adults, it’s often these dog days that we look back on so fondly. It was a needed break, a time of recharge and a chance to just be. I can still feel the sticky summer heat, hear the sounds of kids running the streets and the echoes of summer concerts, smell campfire on the breeze, and taste mouthwatering BBQ and the juicy tang of summer sweet corn on my tongue. I am so thankful for these memories. As summer progresses, I am reminded that my own kids are experiencing their own form of the dog days of summer; days I’m hopeful they will look back on with the same fondness and nostalgia.

My summers were colored with the styles and times of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Today’s youth have a completely new color palette that styles their summers and their lives in new, vibrant hues. We can never re-create exactly what we once had as each generation experiences their own sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures. In other words, the summers of each generation are colored with a slightly different hue. However, summer is still a shared experience that creates memories that last a lifetime, and some themes endure throughout the generations. Freedom from homework and the pressures of school. Time for vacations and the treat of no alarm clock. That feeling of endless possibilities that permeates no schedule or routine. The joy of summer warmth, family, friendships and fun.

These are the overarching themes that I hope our own kids look back on as fondly as I do. They will color their own summer experiences with the tones and accents unique to their zeitgeist, but ultimately, I hope summer sears a special place in their memory. Thus, as my rational brain yearns for

the stability of rules, routines, a clean house, and engagement, my heart pleads to allow them one more hour around the campfire, one more story, one more s’more, one more chance to slow down and take it all in, and one more opportunity to make memories in these dog days. Before the rush of the school year begins and obligations take over, soak in these fleeting summer days. Revitalize through rest. Make memories. Relax. Enjoy the pleasure of possibilities summer creates. Have one more s’more, tell one more story. The dog days are fleeting. Catch them while you can.

Safe Harbor Coronado provides low-cost counseling, preschool thru 12th grade preventive mental health programs as well as parenting programs, and community education. For more information go to SafeHarborCoronado.org, sign up for the parenting e-newsletter, and follow us on social media @SafeHarborCoronado to make sure you never miss a Safe Harbor Event!

Photos courtesy: Joel Ortiz