It is season 21, episode one of the Good Inside podcast. I know, season 21. And speaking of

season, I got casual my t-shirt today. I want to talk about the summer because I started hearing

a lot of talking about the summer and I'm hearing parents have a pretty kind of relaxing summer. I'm just in my beautiful,

flowy summer dress in mind. And when I hear that, I just think about what the reality of my

summers have been like. And I just want to paint a very different picture for you. Okay.

It's 10 a.m. The sprinkler is on. I have one kid hysterically crying that they didn't get a popsicle yet. I have another kid asking for the TV remote. I have another child who, I don't know, ended up with a Sharpie and is kind of drawing it somewhere in my house. And I'm Googling something totally random. Like how many coffees can you have before noon? The truth is in this moment, I'm not just a parent.

I'm like a cruise director where my kid is always thinking I'm going to plan some amazing

activity.

I'm also a sibling referee because probably at that moment, two of my kids are arguing with

each other.

I also feel like I'm a snack machine.

Like how many snacks?

How many popsicles does a child

think they should have before it's even dessert time? And none of these are roles I signed up for.

And all of them feel stressful. And not only is there not a manual for those additional roles,

but I am still expected to do the first role. That also feels hard. Being a parent. So that's the

image I have in mind when I think about the summer. It's not me in some flowy, beautiful dress.

I don't know, sitting down, reading a book, watching the sunset. And I want to talk about it.

Because if your summer has felt like that image, I think we can at least get a little ahead

of it here and really think about what the summer might be like.

And what of all those roles, the cruise director, the snack machine, the sibling referee,

maybe we don't want to play,

...