"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want." (Calvin and Hobbes)

I’m trying to figure out what the summer will be like for Chicklet this year. As a single mom, it’s a challenge keeping her busy, supervised and safe.

Before entering kindergarten, she’d spend her weekdays in daycare. When she started school, we found some activities for her, and Mom covered the rest. Chicklet spent a good deal of time with my mother and she used to love running errands with her (which almost always included visiting the dollar store at the mall).

Finding ways to keep kids busy wasn’t a problem when I was a kid. I’d run out the door in the morning to go play and I’d come home for lunch… which usually consisted of a bowl of soup and a sandwich while sitting in front of the TV watching The Flintstones.

After lunch, I’d run back out and play until it was time for dinner. Afterwards, I’d go back out again and the signal to come home was when the street lights came on…

We lived outside hunting butterflies, making believe we were princesses, playing in the park and competing to see who could swing the highest and jump off the swing and land the furthest…

Now, I’m looking into sleep-away camps and day camps…

I had a great time going to sleep-away camp… shooting arrows… canoeing… swimming… poison ivy… wait, no… that was Joe Spivy. The camp I went to as a kid is still running… hmmmmm

'Being a child at home alone in the summer is a high-risk occupation. If you call your mother at work thirteen times an hour, she can hurt you.'
--Erma Bombeck