the summer wind… came blowin’ in
First, let me say thank you to all those other tooth-collectors out there. I'm glad I'm not alone. Also, welcome to those folks surfing in from today's Carnival of Feminists.
Next week is the last week of school, and the Bee is filled with excitement. She was telling us at dinner tonight that next week will be her Best! Week! Ever!, because they are just going to have fun every day, and not have to learn anything. Then after dinner, she told me that she loves school, that fall is her favorite season, and her favorite subject is math. The mind of an almost-second-grader races on, unabated.
We also got the paperwork today for the first of the two day camps that she will be attending this summer. As usual, I am slapping myself over the head with regret that I did not photocopy her immunization record the last twenty or thirty times I got one, and will have to call the doctor's office tomorrow to see if they can produce one for us overnight. I might as well get two while I'm at it, because I'm sure that the second camp is also going to need one, and that in my haste to get the paperwork done for the first camp, I will once again forget to photocopy it.
And let me just say, whoa Nelly is summer camp expensive! I thought day care was bad! Can you write this off on your taxes as a child care expense? Please say yes, because otherwise we're going to have to hock the Potato to pay for it. The first camp that the Bee is going to is a YMCA camp out in the woods. Fortunately, there is bussing. Unfortunately, the bus drops her off at 5:05 p.m. I can see I'll be changing my work schedule slightly there. The daily activities consist of things like archery (what every six-year-old needs!), swimming, and making pleather lanyards.
The second camp is near where I work, in a local science museum. The hours are better, and the curriculum is slightly more academic (there are weekly projects on dinosaurs, space exploration, etc.), but the cost of that one for five weeks is more than I paid for my first car. (Oh '76 Camaro, where are you now?)
My dad was a high school teacher, so even after my mom went back to work, I never really went to camp. I was jealous of my friends who did get to go, while I was stuck in what my dad called Summer School. At the time, I never realized that it was strange for a man to stay home all day with his kids, but now I wonder what it was like for my dad, to be the only guy in our neighborhood who was taking his kids on nature walks, and teaching them how to draw cartoons, and introducing them to the likes of Don Knotts and the Greek pantheon. In his prime, my dad was a legendary teacher, and I think he saved some of his best teaching for his own children during those summers.
Some of my best memories of my dad are from the summers that he stayed home with us. Last weekend, I took my kids to a park, and remembered how he would teach us to find snapping turtles, and how he and his best friend spent a whole summer one year searching for antique bottles in the sands of a local creek. My dad was a third generation native of South Jersey, and he grew up hunting and fishing in the Jersey Pine Barrens with my grandfather and his friends. He knew every plant that grew, how to find tadpoles, what back roads to take to avoid the Phillly traffic to the Shore on a summer weekend. We spent days just wandering around on sandy roads that went nowhere, or to towns that stopped existing around the time the telegraph was invented.
When landisdad started his new job, I was a little worried about the fact that he would be working every Sunday, and I would be doing the solo parenting thing. One of the things that I've figured out in the last three months is that the Sundays that work best are the ones where I have a plan to do something fun–even if it's only to have a picnic in the park. My dad filled our days with activity (though I'm sure I'm forgetting the boring times), and I want my kids to remember our days together the way I remember days with my dad–full of fun and learning about stuff they don't teach in school.
Jennifer said,
June 7, 2006 at 11:06 pm
Those are exactly the kinds of memories I want to give my kids.
Regarding your Sundays: I have instituted a new plan to be out.of.the.house by 10am, no matter what shape the house or yard or even the children are in. So far so good. We return around noon so my daughter can sleep and my son and I have some quiet time. And I clean the house : )
chichimama said,
June 8, 2006 at 7:13 am
I am sure Bee will have a grand time, especially at the second camp. The nature center around here does a great sounding camp, but I was unwilling to wait in line to get the lottery number I needed to try and get a spot for C.
And you Sundays sound grand. I will have to follow your plan.
Suzanne said,
June 8, 2006 at 8:18 am
I’m looking to have the same summer experience with my kids — I never did anything during the summer as a child, and while I certainly appreciate a certain amount of summer laziness, I do want my kids to experience more than I did.
I hope the Bee has a great time at camp (I’ve eyed that YMCA one myself for when my kids are older, so I’ll be eager to hear how she likes it).
christie said,
June 8, 2006 at 8:36 am
I always thought summer camp was something they made up for the movies or TV- lol. I had no idea it was real until hubby told me his neices and nephews went to summer camp lol
Kate the Shrew said,
June 8, 2006 at 11:03 am
That’s great that you have such good memories of summers with your dad.
I never got to go to camp, and always envied the kids who had working mothers and had to go. Looking back now, I’m glad I got to spend the time adventuring around in the country with my mom, too.
jeannedarc said,
June 8, 2006 at 2:11 pm
I always like hearing about parents that carry on things with their kids that their parents did for them. It often seems rare that happens. As if it’s easier to plant a kid in front of the tv instead of getting them out in the fresh air.
Leggy said,
June 8, 2006 at 9:13 pm
I agree re: having things planned. I was thinking of a hat with various activities written on pieces of paper, and then drawing from the hat to see what we’d do on certain days. Sometimes just go to the pool or on a nature walk, otherwise, going to an amusement park or something. I guess I’d have to have a good weather hat and a bad weather hat.
Sandra said,
June 8, 2006 at 11:50 pm
My father was a teacher, too, and he used to take us swimming during the summer. We also had all the same holidays during the school year, and on snowdays when school was cancelled, we could shovel together and have snowball fights. Fun times.
Tired Tunia said,
June 9, 2006 at 7:10 am
Thanks for the warning. My oldest is starting kindergarten in the fall. Guess I’ll start saving money for next summer’s “child care” camps! Ugh.
kdubs said,
June 9, 2006 at 3:19 pm
This was beautiful. What precious memories you have of the time with your dad. I am a very active momma and I appreciate your stories. I get a lot of crap from people but I don’t care. I go on a nature walk every day with my son. We dig in the dirt. We go to parks. I’ve taught him out to swim. How to play the sports he has wanted. We do art projects. Go to galleries and I even read literature outloud to him as he plays. We have our dull days but most are rich. I love the qt…. it’s why I decided to stay home a year ago.
Thank you for sharing your heart. It’s huge. And yes, camp is expensive. I’m sending my son to his first day came for two days a week for just a month and I nearly had a heart attack at how much it was LOL..
HeatherJ said,
June 10, 2006 at 1:02 am
Hope she has a great time at camp.
Not to rub it in or anything but the Portland Parks runs day camp (9-5, M-F) for $100 a week. I was blown away, that seems so cheap to me. Our kids are definitely doing that when they get older.
wally said,
June 10, 2006 at 4:36 am
when a Fathers teaches a son or daughter he teaches his granchildren.:)
Library Lady said,
June 10, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Yup, rejoice, summer camp is tax deductible as child care!
jackie said,
June 10, 2006 at 7:18 pm
I never did summer camps as a kid either– my schoolteacher mom was home all summer with us, and we would take some our best vacations then, but now summer camp is definitely on our list of desireables for our girls’ future summers.
Active days can be so great, but I get too exhausted to do them every day– I’m trying to shoot for 3 times a week this summer, M-F.
emma goldman said,
June 11, 2006 at 11:21 pm
When I was a kid, I didn’t really understand summer camp or private school: why would you do those things, I wondered.
Re: archery, my nephews (who are 6 and 9) are extremely good archers (my brother’s been teaching the older one since he was 3), and they’ve learned a tremendous amount by doing it.
Re: stuff with dads, when I was a kid, my dad would take us to the nearby park on Sunday, I think to keep us out of Mom’s hair while she made Sunday dinner. I remember kite-flying, and footballs, and Frisbees, and running around. Years (and years) later I was mentioning those expeditions to him and he said that the one word we never heard from him on those mornings in the park was “no.” The specifics have faded after 35+ years, but the feelings haven’t.
Bumblebee Sweet Potato » in praise of feminist fathers said,
June 18, 2006 at 9:04 pm
[...] I blogged recently about my own father, and how he took care of us during the summers when I was a kid. I don't know if my dad would really describe himself as a feminist–I would. Not only because he went out of his way to make sure that I believed that I could do whatever I wanted to, but also because he made sure that when my mom was ready to go back into the workforce, that she could do it. [...]