For the first time, I am faced with the conundrum of what to do with my child when schoooooooool's out for the summer. In January, I was panicked. Every day camp I'd come across operated from 9AM to 1PM or something equally inconvenient. Luckily the ultra-organized and helpful Kore (or, as the girls call her, Catherine and Margaret's mom) sat down over a cup of coffee with me and told me how she handles this sort of thing. The answer requires basic knowledge of MS Excel. You figure out which weeks you need to fill, you find camps with before and after care, you enter all the data into your spreadsheet and you hold on tight to that thing or you'll never get your kid where she needs to go. In my case, there's also a chance you won't remember where you're supposed to pick her up on any given evening.
This morning was the opening day of summer camp registration for the City of Decatur's recreation center camps. I got all my paperwork in order and dutifully arrived at the rec center moments before registration opened at 9AM. A mere 3 hours later I had Kate all registered for the 4 weeks of camp she'll be attending there and I knew several more of my neighbors. One of them even found out she's going to be an aunt while we all sat there...waiting and waiting and waiting...I bet her sister conceived, missed her period and then took the test all while we were sitting there.
This summer Kate will, at 4 different locations, enjoy Mixed Media Mania, Imagination Creation (vague, I know, but I think that might be the point), Dream & Discover, Ocean Commotion (assonance and alliteration are popular among the camp namers...hold for one more...), Space Station Vacation, Triple Threat Gymnastics (maybe we'll reach the ER deductible on our insurance that week), Swim Camp, Dance Camp and maybe Zoo Camp. It's March and this summer has already worn me out completely.
2 comments:
When I was 11, my mother tossed a housekey at me, yelled, "No friends in the house when I'm not here and stay out of the pool!" and went to work. I think longingly of those neglectful parenting days as we crash through a similar summer scheduling scenario to yours. Why can't we just leave them at home, I wonder. Our house doesn't even have a pool for them to try to drown in!
My mom gets all offended when I mention my years of being a latch-key kid. I can't seem to make her understand that I really loved that time I had to myself, feeling all autonomous and what-not. Am I a bit dumber for lack of a summer packed with "enrichment classes"? I probably are.
Upon reflection, mom's got a point. Back then, we didn't lock our house. I never had a key.
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