Let Summer Be Summer, But: Hurry Up

It’s February 17th and a local business is shouting:

SUMMER IS PRACTICALLY HERE!!!

I look out the window. I disagree.

But the business is Maslow’s Loom and they are selling summer camp experiences for school children. I think what they mean to say is, if you haven’t already planned all your kid’s summer camps already, you’re in trouble. Many folks try to get all that squared away in January.

It’s February, for Heaven’s sake. Time is running out!

I remember realizing that I would never get to be at home in the summer with my first child. It was a bitter moment. I was divorced. I had to work. Luckily I worked at the school summer camp so we got to be closer together than most. But there was absolutely no choice, no agency in how we spent our summers.

On the other hand, my mother was saddled with three children in the summers back in the day as my father headed off to work. No one asked *her* what she’d rather do. I remember an endless string of days filled with outdoor play, running through the sprinkler, putting in shows in the basement…

My mother was running an unpaid, 24/7 summer camp.

Sorry, got off track there.

All of this is to say that summer camp sign up season is upon us and it can be stressful. I wish there were a way to make this easier for families but I don’t know what it would be.

Often the best camp experiences are expensive. Sometimes you’re juggling one or two of those with care by grandparents, throwing in your own vacation days, trading off with friends…I don’t know but I suspect that a good deal of these mental contortions are done by women. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

Is there such a thing as a summer camp concierge service? You fill out a questionnaire and they do the rest? Wouldn’t that be lovely.

I’m interested in all your summer camp, summer child care experiences and opinions. Let me know.

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