Here's my summer plan:

Wait, back up. Four kids, three animals. (Did I mention I recently adopted a 2-year-old shepherd mix and two kittens? Yes, it's crazy. More on that later.) And me. Ten weeks. That's why I need a plan.

I don't mean a plan for day camps and tennis camps and reading logs and travel. I've got all that.

I mean a survival plan — for Mom and kids. When my children were really little it seemed so much easier. Now the age spread is 13 down to 6. Which makes me think that when it comes to raising kids it doesn't really "take a parent" — it actually takes a small army of very energetic adults.

Anyway, I sat the kids down at a meeting. Here's what I've decided. We have to do things differently this year. My goal is to work on "gratitude and graciousness."

This is not something at which my kids — or I — excel.

Now back up, back up. This isn't about "peace and quiet" in the home. I like a little chaos. I grew up with it. Full disclosure: I rather like the running and chasing and yelling my kids do. Most of the time the noise my children make is life giving to me. What I don't like, what isn't life giving, is when the decibel level gets high because of screaming, which is very different from yelling. And I don't like the bickering and especially don't like "MOM!!!" followed by complaints, accusations, general whining, ridiculous requests etc.

So, back to "gratitude and graciousness." For the first time, I'm developing a "summer contract" for each child. It starts with a preamble about family life, and peace, and gratefulness and, well, you get the picture. Of course, they'll skip right over it to see what's required of them.

What's required are little things like:

"I will neatly put away my shoes when I come into the house, and I won't complain about what's being served at mealtime."

Bigger things like:

"I will do my daily chores without delays or grumbling."

Really big things like: Continued...