This chart is how I hold summer together

E

very June, like clockwork, I pull out the glitter pens and the sheet of bristol board that’s been wedged behind the fridge since last summer. It’s tradition. I call the kids in — two still in pajamas, one already barefoot outside, one upstairs insisting she’s too old for this. We gather around the table while I draw the grid: 80 boxes total. Twenty stickers to earn a trip to Sprinkles on Route 59, toppings included.

This, in theory, is how I hold summer together.

The chart is meant to reward good behavior: clearing the table without being asked, getting dressed the first time I ask, brushing teeth without threats. But really, it’s for me. It’s visual proof that I’m not just surviving these long, hot, screamy days, but parenting. Creating structure in the chaos.

The first year, they hovered over the chart with reverence. The oldest ones wrote their names in bubble letters. The youngest peeled stickers off her forehead and tried to stick them to the wall. That was the golden year, when the chart worked perfectly.

This year is not that year.