Twenty and Counting...

by Jeanne Adams

Yes, I confess.

YES, I DO want my children to go back to school. If that makes me a terrible Mama, for wanting to bring all this camp trekking and weird schedules to a close, then I'm a terrible Mama.

I want to get back on schedule.

Is that so wrong??

A few years ago, one of the office supply stores, Staples, did a television ad where the children look glum and the father is joyously loading school supplies into the cart while "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" plays in the background. Check it out here, on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPIIMbG9R4w

Grins. I love this. I feel this way. I'm so baaaaaaad.

Now to be fair, my eldest son is actually happy about getting back to school and to his "buds" - he doesn't get to see all of them in the summer, and certainly not every day. Everyone's been off to sleepaway camp, or visiting relatives, or traveling hither and yon. He wants to see everyone.

You can see where his priorities lie, which doesn't bode well for scholarship but sure means he'll be well socialized. Sigh. He's still got three more weeks of camp, so he's happy about that, and his daily does of his crew is forthcoming as well. The cherry on top is a new Miami Heat Backpack.

*eye roll from mom*

Best of both worlds for him though. Besides, he seems to love the whole school supply thing as much as I do. Shiny notebooks, cool backpacks, new lunchboxes...

My youngest is both excited and apprehensive. He'll be a kindergartner in the fall.

Woot! Big boy school with his brother. The only year they'll be in school together.

He's excited about the backpack and all the supplies too, but being my "shark-boy" who loves to swim, he's VERY bummed that the pool will close right after school starts. (nope, that isn't our pool. I wish it were! We belong to a neighborhood pool)

All that said, I want school to start so I can have a regular schedule. One week this summer, I drove every day to two different camps in two different parts of our county. Two boys + varied interests = two camps. By the time I got done with drop-off, got coffee and got home, it was nearly eleven. I had to pick one up at 2:30 and the other at 4:30.
While I know this can be worse for others, with more children, compare the times I listed. Do the math....and,Yep, you guessed it.

Do you think I got any writing done?

Sigh. I DID manage to eke out some pages but not at my usual steady pace.

Then Came National.

The pre-work for National was garnering babysitters, making sure there were lists for camp, including what days were swim days, what days were field trip days and what days were "normal" days.

Yikes! My poor husband doesn't usually have to deal with all this in addition to his demanding work. Between camp, power outages, huge storms, baseball tournaments that ran late due to the heat (1 a.m. late), and what to pack for lunches, he nearly pulled out what hair he has.

He appreciates me so much, now that I'm back. Grins. I think the dogs even did a happy dance when I came home since they got regular meals and there wasn't laundry piled up where they like to sleep. Grins.

(Please don't think I'm ragging on him, he did a great job under tedious circumstances, so I have to give him his props!)

Anyway, I don't remember there being this much focus on camp or summer activities when I was a kid. Did you have this? All the different sports camps? Maybe it's just that I grew up in a more rural area...I don't know.

So here as the summer closes, tell me this:

Did you go to camp?

What was your favorite camp of all time? Least favorite?

What was your favorite summer activity?

Did you go to your County or State fair?

What was your favorite thing to do at the fair?

If you have kids, are you ready for them to go back to school, or are you dreading the end of summer?

Did you have a favorite lunch box? Tell, tell....