It's summer vacation from school and as excited as I was for it to come, I'm starting to see the downside of it as a parent. You see, this is my first official year with a summer break. My eldest finished kindergarten and as awesome as it is to not have to do the whole morning rush to school routine, I now get why some parents do not look forward to their kids' summer break at all. It's called a vacation, but it's no vacation for parents.
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Here are the six worst things about summer for parents:
1. The house is a mess 24/7. What the heck is it with kids making rooms explode with toys, art supplies and clothes? Their stuff is everywhere and even if you get them to put everything away, it only stays away for five minutes before everything explodes again.
2. Teachers get a summer break, but you don't. If you don't want your kids' brains to turn to mush over summer break, you better be reviewing all the stuff they learned over the school year because otherwise it ain't gonna stick and they will know less at the end of the summer than they did at the beginning.
3. You have to keep your kids stimulated physically and mentally. You can't just leave your kids to their own devices because not only will their brains turn to mush so will their muscles. That means you have to make sure they exercise without calling it exercise because then they won't do it.
4. You could spend all day feeding them. They have no problem at all keeping you in the kitchen and making orders all day. They may not eat all of what they ask for or even most of what they ask for, but they will keep asking for more.
5. You can't tell them to go to bed because it's a school night. You can tell them to go to bed, but during the school year you can really put your foot down and say, "It's a school night." In the summer forget it.
6. Summer is expensive. Camp cost money. Amusement parks cost money. Movies cost money. The fair costs money. Most kids don't make any money so it's up to parents to cover the costs.
It's gonna be fun, but it's also gonna be a long, tiring expensive summer.
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