As the school calendar draws to a close, I am feeling the panic of “now what?”
For eight weeks my children will be aimlessly glued to a (fill in the blank) television, video game, computer, iPod, and they will eat everything in the (circle the correct answer) fridge, cupboard, pantry, and likely ignore the (mark correct response) dishes, dog, laundry, rules.
The guilt of being a working parent never ends.
Like most parents, the Carpenter and I have to work throughout the summer to keep our children in the lifestyle that we have taught them to believe is realistic. While we work ourselves into overdraft, the children will have two months of leisure, with a sprinkling of chores to keep it real.
We are at an awkward point in our family. The children are at an age where they are not quite old enough to be left alone for too long without a mediator, and not young enough to need a babysitter.
But my kids are too high maintenance to subject them to their grandparents full time, and too low maintenance to be left to their own devices. Because it is against the law to leave the children on the front lawn with a sign that says, “feed us,” I have no other option: summer camps it is.
The vicious cycle has begun. I will work all summer to pay for a variety of camps despite the fact that I will actually make less money than it costs to enroll my kids in these camps. In other words, I’m working for free, just so I can go to work to keep the family afloat come fall. As the lesser income earner, I am the extra-curricular income. Yep, I am now working just to be able to keep working, while the kids are distracted long enough not to notice. We are paying someone else to keep the kids safe, entertained and engaged.
Oh, you probably think I am feeling guilty for not being home – not exactly. I mean, sure, I thought I’d be a mom with a career who figured out how to get her summers off and still earn a decent income, but that didn’t happen.
Instead, I need to be the second income in a family that needs two just to survive. I’m sure it is the reality of most parents today.
Fortunately, I like to work and who wouldn’t want to send their kids to fun camps? Heck, I’d go if they’d let me. The fridge calendar is now a spectacle of colour-coded scheduled bliss from July to August, with camp weeks blocked in: green for sports, pink for horses, red for arts camp, yellow for drama, and blue for environmental adventure camps. My kids are going to have the best summer ever.
Sure, it makes me sad they’ll learn to canoe and fish from someone else, but that may be safer. And I am no artist, nor can I put on a production. Goodness knows I am no equestrian rider – and sports, really? Not gonna happen.
Summer is supposed to be about fun and adventure. I’ll fit it in on weekends. Kids need to explore and have the freedom from their parents to make friends and try new things.
I know I am lucky to have a job to almost afford camp, and live in a place with good options.
Now, where is parent camp? Sign me up.