Can you feel it? Are you sensing the change in the air? Can you see it in the behavior of your child? Can you hear it when your school-aged child gets off the bus?

Spring is here and school is almost out for the summer and the kids know it. It seems to me a light switch was flipped, and my two sons are in a perpetual spring break mode. They are bouncing off the walls, excited about every day, spending every possible waking moment outside and have suddenly forgotten what homework and rules are all about.

I don’t think there is a number high enough to count how many times I had to say to my son, “Sit still Gabriel and finish your homework.” He just has ants in his pants and wants to be outside running, jumping, riding his bike and climbing anything with a branch. Somehow he knows that summer is a breath away and he has flipped off the school switch.

What is it in our nature that makes us innately shift gears in the spring? I always figured I felt it because I went through 17 years of school and the cycle was impressed upon me over time. But Gabriel is in first grade and yet he feels it. I can’t even get mad at him for not standing as still in line or having a burning desire to be outside instead of taking care of business. I feel the same way! I just want to run and play and get to the pool with the boys already. I find myself daydreaming about the summer and getting the boys to golf camp in the morning and the pool in the afternoon.

I love the lazy days of summer after what feels like a chock-full, pressure filled, yet exciting winter. We take on so many responsibilities and pack so much into our schedules, and our children’s activities and expectations keep getting so intense that it sometimes feels like a balloon about to pop. I wonder if my children feel that too. I wonder if somewhere around spring break, a slow leak forms in that balloon that represents responsibility, and by mid-May they are on E. Sometimes I think I am.

Summer. The hot, hazy, sticky, lazy, fragrant, wonderful days of North Carolina’s summer are just what this mom has ordered, and if we are lucky, we will spend decadent weekends at the beach, soaking up every last ounce of our state’s scrumptious summer. I can’t wait, and between you and me, I am not really frustrated that I have to say, “Sit still Gabriel and finish your homework” because inwardly I get it. I have learned to sit still when I have to but this desk can only hold me through the end of the school year and then I am off and running with the boys.

So, here is your homework, and I expect this assignment completed and turned in by the end of the month.

This should be done at least three times every week for 30 minutes minimum (my game, my rules).

- Enjoy every minute with your kids.

- Step away from the computer.

- Put down the blackberry and take out your blue tooth.

- Go and run in the sprinkler with your kids.

- Play catch and find caterpillars.

- Do not check email.

- Do not answer your phone.

- Do not do anything but play whatever game your child wants to play with you.

- No straightening up the house or working in the yard (unless the kids want to)

Just breathe in and enjoy their youthful exuberance and remember the wonder of childhood.