1 Mother 2 Another

Spring break is barely in our rearview
mirror at this household and I’m already feeling the pressure
to get our summer schedule figured out. You might think such a
schedule would look something like this: “Sleep in. Go to the
pool. Take a nap. Repeat.” And we’ll certainly have
many days like that, it’s true.


But that’s not the whole story.

Every year at this time I struggle with
how much to allow my kids to “do” during the summer. To
me, a kid’s summer vacation should be as unplanned as
possible, with plenty of blank spaces for sleepovers and hanging
out and water pistol fights and lemonade stands and improvised
theatres in backyards, and whenever I see children with booked
vacation months – a two-week gymnastics camp, followed by a
sleepaway camp, followed by a one-week karate camp, and so on
– I wince thinking about the unplanned fun they’re
missing.


At the same time, I firmly believe that summer is the time to try
new things. Want to explore kick-boxing? Take a six-week
mini-mester class! Always wanted to learn how to crochet? Do a
two-day mini-camp! Summer has a plethora of offerings with a much
shorter time commitment than during the school year, and I’d
rather Cora learn she doesn’t really want to do judo in July
when we’re only out fifty bucks than in September when
we’re on the hook for the entire semester.


So I’m moving slowly, trying to sort out what they really
want and find a way to make that happened without feeling too much
stress. Maddie, for one, has enthusiastically re-enlisted in a
one-week invention camp: she went last year and cried bitterly when
it was over, bless her geeky little heart. Maddie wants to try
ballet one more time this summer, so we’re looking at weekly
lessons for that, and we’ve got the required two-week swim
instruction at the beginning of the summer. And she’s also
asked if she can do a one-week horse camp as well. I personally
don’t think I’d have the stamina for horse camp:
spending all day every day OUTSIDE in the UNAIRCONDITIONED stables,
mucking out stalls and taking riding lessons and cooking out OVER A
FIRE does not sound like my idea of heaven. But it does to her, so
we’re trying to make it happen.


As long there’s a reeeeeeeeeally long bath at the end of that
week.


As for Cora, well, we’re not sure what all she’s diving
into yet. She knows she wants to do ballet camp – a one-week
camp that spends the whole week exploring one ballet, like Sleeping
Beauty or Cinderella, and of course she’s got swim lessons.
But she’s asked me to look into something else – circus
camp.


Yes, circus camp.


I’m not sure where she got this idea, but she wants to attend
a one-week circus camp for kids where she can learn juggling and
clowning and trapeze work and such. And heck if I haven’t
found a bona fide circus school here that does exactly that for
kids her age. Not sure if we can make it work time-wise, but
I’m working on it.


We are going to need a vacation from our vacation.