Modern motherhood requires us to be intentional with our time — and creative with how we approach our kids. Popsicle picnics started as a creative way to keep the house clean and get some fresh air — and have evolved into something far more.
My son and I started making popsicles when he was 3 or 4 years old. We use my smoothie recipe and put them in popsicle molds. That means more nutrition and less sugar than many other popsicles. Since popsicles are best enjoyed outdoors, I once suggested we eat them at a “popsicle picnic.” He loved the idea, and they stuck.
Our picnics soon became cherished special moments. As we enjoyed our popsicles, we chatted (that’s my son’s favorite word for talk). He talked about his day, his thoughts, his feelings. We found shapes in the clouds, we practiced yoga, we snuggled.
“He talked about his day, his thoughts, his feelings. We found shapes in the clouds, we practiced yoga, we snuggled.”
Picnics and COVID
For a while, picnics featured only popsicles and were a weekend event. Then, 2020 and COVID happened. We were on spring break in March 2020 when everything started shutting down.
It felt serious, of course, but we still figured we’d be back to baseball, vacations and kindergarten in a few weeks. We had no idea what was coming. It seemed to make sense that if everyone stayed home for a bit, we’d be just fine. School would resume in no time. Spring break had simply extended by a week. No big deal, we said — we’d have some fun family time at home.
Obviously, this is not what happened. We started picking up materials from school and logging in to Google Classroom. I spent my days at the kitchen island, bouncing from work projects to troubleshooting my son’s latest tech challenge to helping him practice reading and math.
When school was done in the afternoon, we both needed to step away from the screens. We needed to decompress. We needed to go outdoors. And by God, we needed snacks. Throughout March, April and May, our picnics were a near-daily mainstay. We expanded beyond popsicles, and we started to include games too. We played chess almost every day. We played Guess Who? and Uno. I ordered Sorry to have a new game to play.
Remember What Matters
Over the summer, the picnics faded. School was out, it was 110 degrees outside, and my parents were about to move in temporarily. But when virtual school resumed for first grade, my son was eager to restart the picnics.
Even now, with school back to in-person and life slowly returning to some semblance of normalcy, we still do picnics regularly … There’s always a snack and some iced tea or water. Sometimes we play games; other days, we read. One night recently, we had ice cream and laid under the stars.
For an episode of the Kiddos in the Kitchen podcast, and, well, for posterity, I guess, I asked my son what he would remember most from our year of COVID. His answer made me realize just how important all those popsicles were.
Because he didn’t talk about virtual school or missing two baseball seasons or being stuck inside or not seeing his friends for months on end. He answered sweetly: “Picnics with you.”