I love being a boymom! I love the energy my son wakes up with and the excitement he has for the simplest things. I love the loudness that fills our house while he's at play and the roaring laughter when he finds something funny. I love his big imagination, his big heart and his big ideas for what life should be all about. He thinks every meal should be ice cream, every day should be Saturday and he can’t understand why he, and everyone else, shouldn’t roam around naked all the time.

While being a boymom means there’s never a dull moment, it can also be exhausting! I’ve learned over the years that it requires a high stamina and a shift in perspective to keep from going crazy, especially in the summer.

Splish splash. Photo credit: frostedMOMS.com

So I’ll share with you a few lessons on how to survive summer break as a boymom:

1. Don’t blink. Don’t think for one second you can turn your eyes to chat with the neighbor or run inside to grab a drink. I promise, the minute you do they’ll be fifteen feet up a tree. Or about to take a superhero leap off the deck. Boys are fearless and their little minds are constantly scheming up new ways to test their bravery. Keep a laser focus at all times!

   
   

   Dare devil. Photo credit: frostedMOMS.com

2. Never leave home without a first-aid kit. Not just a few band-aids, you need one that can address a multitude of possible injuries. There will be breaks, cuts, bites, bruises, bumps, and a whole bevy of other incidents you can’t possibly imagine.
3. And a bag of snacks. Boys eat ALL day. They are like little starving beasts who can’t be satiated. Let them go hungry and they turn into wild animals ready to ravage entire villages. My child has ransacked the refrigerators of our friends and family. I’ve had to literally pry him from the fridge door. It’s insane how much growing boys can eat. I never leave home without a bag full of food.

   
   

   Crazy faces. Photo credit: frostedMOMS.com

4. And a change of clothes. Boys are rough on clothes, when they are even wearing them. My son leaves in the morning fully dressed and comes home missing multiple articles of clothing everyday. Shirts, socks, shoes…. It’s a good day if he returns with some sort of bottoms on at the very least. Whatever clothing he’s still wearing is guaranteed to be either soaking wet or completely filthy.

   
   

   Sandy everything. Photo credit: frostedMOMS.com

5. Don’t even bother with buying nice clothes. I took full advantage of dressing my child up in cute clothing until he could walk. After that he turned into a magnet for dirt and stains. He can transform a light colored outfit into camouflage head to toe in a matter of minutes. Don’t waste money on cute clothes. It will only stress you out trying to keep him clean, an impossible feat I have yet to see any mother of boys master. Boys are drawn to dirt and mud. It’s their spirit element.

   
   

   Lake life. Photo credit: frostedMOMS.com

6. Or a nice car, honestly. Because the roughness that comes with boys extends far beyond just destroying clothing. Your car is not safe, especially in the summer. The sporting gear, the bikes, the trips to the beach and all the other boyhood pastimes that fill your days will fill your car. With dirt and mud and ding, dents, scrapes, holes…….. Trying to keep your car in good condition will just be another stress. Go ahead and trade your nice car in a for a junky SUV or minivan and make a mental note to cash in on your nice car fantasy when your son graduates from high school.
7. Never EVER leave his shoes in the car. Oh my god! Spare yourself the experience and please, never leave your son’s summer shoes in a hot car overnight. I made this grave mistake after a day at the splash pad. My sweet boy kicked off his favorite shoes, the ones he refuses to wear socks with. I swear, I nearly died the next morning when I opened the car door. I can’t even describe how rank the odor was. And it took a good two months and twenty bottles of Febreze before it was back to tolerable.
8. Make a spray station by the door. My neighbor had a big, furry dog that loved to roll around in the grass and dirt when they would go to the park. She made a dog wash station by the back door so she could spray him down and dry him off before he could come inside. We now have the same type set-up for our child, who also loves to roll around in the dirt at the park. A water hose outside and a basket of soap and towels inside by the door. When he comes home especially caked in dirt I spray him down, clean him off and wrap him in a towel before turning him loose inside.
9. Bring an arsenal of toys to the park. I learned this one early on when I would bring my son to the playground or park. He’d see another child with a ball or a Frisbee and start to wail. Instead of spending all of our free time trying to keep him from someone else’s treasure I decided to keep a bag of outdoor toys in the car for him. A basketball, a soccer ball, a Frisbee, whatever might alleviate any playground scuffles and keep him occupied.

   
   

   

   Play ball. Photo credit: frostedMOMS.com

   
   

10. Buy sunscreen in bulk. Keep it in the car, by the door, in your purse… Boys love the great outdoors! My son wants to be outside alllll day long, rain or shine. He would happily stand in pouring rain, soak and wet just to splash in the puddles and kick up some mud. I slather on the sunscreen before he gets out the door and I makes sure we have some on hand for another swipe later in the day. Lots of time outside means lots of sun exposure and sunburns are no fun!
11. Surrender to the moment. I know someday he won’t need me to hold his hand while he bravely hops from rock to rock or come running to me for comfort when he falls and scrapes his knee. So as exhausting as these days are I try very hard to remind myself that it’s a moment in time I will someday miss. Terribly! I want to make sure it’s filled with memories of the wild and crazy adventures we shared together. So get out there boymoms, embrace the wildness and enjoy the summer fun with your little man.

The beaches of Maine. Photo credit: frostedMOMS.com

Influencer, lifestyle blogger, mommy blogger.... whatever you want to call her, Misty Nelson loves to swap stories with her community of mamas online. Drop by http://frostedevents.com and say hi!

Related video: