To be exact, 82 days, two and a half months of interruption equals a summer break.
But who is counting?
I am.
I am a working mother, and with both of us, husband and wife, who do not share the break with their children, summer throws new dodge balls on an already packed schedule. Summer is a uniquely busy time for working parents. Here is why.
Change in schedule
Clockwork schedules are not just for newborns. Adults too are slaves to habits. Summer requires adapting to new drop-off locations with new times and rules. New habits form as old ones are broken, and that can challenge an already busy routine.
Camp locations can be inconvenient
Sometimes, the best camps aren’t the ones near your home unlike the public (or private) schools. Nonetheless, not just adding on to the already long commute (for those like me with a forty-five-minute normal commute), it is also now having to remember the new routes. You can no longer rely on auto-pilot wiring to get to the same places daily. And, as soon as you adjust to the new routine, summer is over.
The uncertainty
Picking the right camp is step number one. A lot can go wrong from the camp selection to living life in the new camp. Do the activities appeal to kids in reality as it did on paper? Does the camp provide the right outlet for the energies little ones burst in? Will they meet nice people? Will they get along?
Often times than not, a child comes home with a fight (especially for my rough and tumble boy). That is followed by lots of tossing and turning in the sleep at night, what to do, and what not to do.
All weeks of summer are not created equal
When all the loose pieces of the summer puzzle fit – the people fit, the work fits, the commute fits … wait, there is another dodge ball.
Summer weeks are created unequal. June is summer school (half days, four days a week). And, rest of the summer are full-time camp – this is true for my situation but will vary from district to district, home to home, decision to decision.
Two weeks could go problem-free and in the next cycle enters, say swimming – chlorine filled, dry unmanageable hair, sun burnt skin and their companion, tears.
Not to mention, THE HOMEWORK
Research has shown that complete interruption in academics has adverse effect on their scores and abilities. So, schools such as mine have not only offered part time summer school (awesome offering) but also sent books worth of homework. What about my plan for home work for my child over summer?
Our elementary school excels in acknowledging that children need to be children. So, they have no homework policy during the school year, a joy because I can choose an activity for our evenings – a music lesson or simply cuddling and sharing tales from our day. Summer is an exception and quite possibly, the antagonist to that policy.
More work in each day – lunch and accessories needed
In the academic year, on any given day, I can ask my kids to get lunch from the cafeteria. All I have to worry about are the funds on their lunch card, an act I can complete from my desk or bed with a click of a button. Not true for a lot of summer camps.
Lunch and healthy snacks are not the only extra items to pack. Washed swimming costumes and towels on swimming days, tennis rackets on tennis days, sunscreen, mosquito repellents, and extra snacks for field trip days. No biggie but another complexity and new routine to incorporate in already full days.
Camps do not cover entire summer
Camps end a few days to a week before the start of the academic year to give their staff a break, I suppose. Parents that have planned well, may have a vacation planned ahead of time and those like me who do not have that extra vacation, hunt for a nanny or alternative for the week. One such week I spent with the nanny calling me every twenty minutes in tears, “Your daughter is crying again, miss. She won’t listen to me.”
Here is to another summer, to change, and to living life in general.
