Every dog should have its day and today is that day! Since we are celebrating the dog days of summer this week at Camp Weary Parent, what better activity to do than treating the dogs to some TLC!

• Start by giving the dog’s fur a good brushing and trimming his nails if needed.
• Then have the kids get on their swim suits, get out the hose, grab your favorite dog shampoo (I like Adams Flea & Tick Shampoo for Dogs & Cats because it smells the best!) or a mild baby shampoo, an old towel and make sure you have plenty of space outside.
• Slowly get your dog wet and make sure the water is not too hot or too cold. Lather him up and have fun!
• Hose him down - and don’t forget to “accidentally” spray big brother or sister in the process! Spot will sense that everyone is having fun and will love all the attention.
• Dry off Spot with some old towels and give him another really good brush.
• If you really want to pamper the dog, try giving a doggie massage while rubbing in some lavender oil into his coat.

Don’t have a family dog? I’m willing to bet the neighbors would be more than happy to let the kids pamper their dog - just be sure it is a friendly dog, make sure the dog owner is present at all times and of course, get permission first.

Joining us late? Dont miss any of the fun - visit the Camp Weary Parent page for a complete listing of all the activities.

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We took the kids to see a movie yesterday. (The Dark Knight…which we all loved, btw.) Before the movie there was thirty minutes of previews. And before those previews were some ads for local businesses and organizations. One of those ads was for the Linn County Partnership on Substance Abuse. According to this advertisement 40% of teens report getting alcohol from a friend’s parent.

I immediately thought about my teens’ friends and their parents. We’ve already had some run-ins with some parents I’m less than thrilled with. There was the parent who left my not-quite-fifteen-year-old home alone all night long while she went over to her ex-husband’s house for a booty call. And we also had the weirdo mom who called my son at 2am to tell him not to call her daughter after 9pm.

Some parents just don’t have the same house rules that we have in our home. Some parents don’t have the same morals that we try to instill in our kids. We worry about other teens pressuring our kids to do things we disagree with, but we also need to worry about some of their parents. It can be confusing to a teen when another adult is encouraging behaviors they know are wrong. Often that turns in to “your mom is so cool” and “my mom is such a prude.” When in reality the “cool” mom is reckless.

I tend to be the mom who calls to make sure a parent will be at the party. I like to meet the parents of my kid’s friends. I’ve even been known to look some parents up on the court website to see if they have any outstanding warrants or assault charges. Overprotective? Maybe. But now that I know 40% of teens are getting alcohol from somebody else’s parents I would rather be overprotective than uninformed.

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With temperatures in the high 90s this week, all anyone in this house is going to want to do is lay around like a DOG. Yes, these are the dog days of summer and are the inspiration for this week’s camp theme.

Start the week off right with a yummy recipe for “Puppy Chow” - the kids will love making this.

Chocolate Puppy Chow

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups Chex honey nut snack mix
• 2 cups Chex sweet and salty snack mix
• cup thin pretzel sticks, broken into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup salted cashews
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

PREPARATION:

Pour snack mixes, pretzels, and cashews into large bowl. Set aside. Using a double boiler on the stove or the microwave, melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter, stirring to combine. Add vanilla and mix until smooth.

Pour chocolate mixture over cereal, turning over gently until all pieces are evenly coated. Pour mixture into large plastic bag (a cooking bag works well) with the powdered sugar. Seal and shake until all the pieces are well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool.

Next, rent one of these great family friendly dog movies:

• Firehouse Dog (Full Screen Edition)
• The Shaggy Dog (Wild & Woolly Edition)
• The Shaggy D.A.
• Air Bud
• Air Bud - World Pup
• Air Bud - Seventh Inning Fetch
• Snow Dogs
• Snow Buddies
• Lassie (Widescreen)
• Old Yeller (Vault Disney Collection)
• Miracle Dogs

And, the backyard barbecue has gone to the dogs in this fun summer coloring page! There are so many dogs on the sheet, we lost count - can you figure out how many dogs came to the party? When you are done, try your skill with this quick dogs word search.

Joining us late? Dont miss any of the fun - visit the Camp Weary Parent page for a complete listing of all the activities.

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My three younger kids and I have spent a lot of time together this summer. We go to the night swim at the city pool two days a week and I took every Wednesday afternoon off throughout the summer to either go to the pool or a movie when it’s raining. Plus I’ve worked from home every day this summer due to record breaking flooding in our city. So I see a lot of them.

But my teens are practically strangers. My oldest has spent most of the summer six hours away visiting his mother. My younger teen spent two weeks in Chicago with my mom. Now they are both on their way home from a week long trip to South Padre Island, Texas with their church youth group. I’ve almost forgotten what they look like. They’ve probably grown two inches while they were gone.

Of course even when they are in town we rarely see them. They are spending the night at friends house or going to the pool or doing whatever they can to not spend time with us. Last week all of us went to the pool. The second we dropped our towels the teen was off to hang out with his friends. I didn’t see him again until the pool closed. If it wasn’t for their cell phones and text messaging I would have barely spoke to them all summer.

*sigh*

I guess I need to get used to this. They are both in high school this year; in ninth grade and eleventh grade. In just two years my oldest will be a man. He’ll be old enough to vote and buy cigarettes (although I hope he doesn’t buy cigarettes…so far so good). He’ll be old enough to move out and leave us behind. This realization is starting to hit me like a brick wall. While my younger kids are begging me to put down my book and join them in the pool, my teens are doing whatever they can to ignore me. They don’t need me anymore. (Well, you know, other than for housing, food and money. But I have a feeling that even when they move out they will still come home for two of those three things.)

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The way our summer schedule is playing out, I am starting to feel like every day is a reality show - trying to see at what point this weary parent will break, but I won’t because I have started my countdown - 38 days until school starts!!

Have fun with the kids today and come up with your own Survivor style game day. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. A gummy bug-eating competition. Pick up some fun, gummy creepy crawlies at the dollar store to make this realistic (you can also get Liquid Filled Gummy Bugs, Centipedes, or SweeTarts Gummy Bugs)
2. A rat hunt. Candy stores also have Giant Gummy Rats - hide some around the house and see how many the kids can find.
3. A treasure chest relay. They have to carry a treasure chest filled with rocks, back and forth, handing it off to different team members until they are done.
4. Do the limbo. Use a pool noodle, broom handle or anything long and straight for your limbo stick. Have athletic kids? Do a reverse limbo where you raise the barrier and they jump over it, not under it.
5. Relay race. Give to each team a bandana, a basin with water, and a bucket. Put the basin at the start line and the bucket at the finish. The team which manages to bring the greatest amount of water to the bucket, wins the game. There are so many variations on this - check out my post on water games for more inspiration.
6. Or pick up the Survivor Game board game and use the game cards as inspiration for your own activities.

Joining us late? Dont miss any of the fun - visit the Camp Weary Parent page for a complete listing of all the activities.

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