What am I referring to? The end of the school year. Every child laments the start of the school year, while parents are quite reminiscent of the Staples commercial featuring Alice Cooper, 2 kids and the song "It's the most wonderful time of the year".
By May, most children (usually those beyond the third grade when the novelty of going to school has worn off for most) are daydreaming about summer vacation while their parents are dreading it. So what do most parents do with their children during said vacation? A large majority tough it out. A percentage sign their children up for day camps, overnight camps, trips to Grandma and Grandpa's and the like. Except camps are extremely expensive (Umm, $350 for only 5 days??), and unless Grandma and Grandpa are only a day drive away (or less), that's also not very practical unless you're child is older than 12 and can fly unaccompanied.
So what do you do, especially if you can't afford multiple week-long camps at $150-$350/wk? Barring living in a country where year-round school is the norm, if you work you have to find day-long child care. If you don't work, well... you're like me and pretty much stuck with the kids, all day every day. As much as I love my daughter, I have come to relish having the majority of 5 days a week to myself; able to clean without constant interruption, walk the dogs when I want to for as long as I want to without the complaint of walking too long or too far, being able to run errands in peace. And to top it off, my daughter LIKES school. She gets upset when she can't go to school. Of course, that has a lot to do with the fact that she's only in Kindergarten.
It's going to be a long, long, loooooong summer.
2 comments:
Find other parents in the same situation you are in and take turns taking the kids for a few days at a time.
I am about to sign myself up for 365 days a year of all day everyday. What was I thinking?? lol
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