Season Of Fun

Summer is finally here. And for most daycare providers that means it's the season of outdoor fun. Is there anything better than getting paid to stay outside in the sunshine all day long? Man, it is during seasons like this one that I feel the good days more than the bad. Sometimes in the summer I reflect on the past six months and start to wonder if I appear like a walking Prozac commercial from November to January. But, hey, whatever gets you through the day. I swear that for daycare providers there is not only Seasonal Affective Disorder but rather Seasonal Affective Derangement. Is there anything better to lift that mood of your dismal existence of six months of intensified crying of your exclusively indoor habitat than a few rays of sunshine and children quietly playing in the sandbox?



As I look at the calendar I start to panic when I realize that already there are too few days left to summer. How on earth am I going to fit in the myriad of activities and special trips I want to do. After all, summer is not just about entertaining the daycare kids but my own too. So, even though I know, in my heart of hearts, that upon returning from the splash pad with four overtired, cranky toddlers, and three sunburned, ravenously hungry and now bored older kids I will tell myself 'never, never again'. And then the very next week you will find me standing in the driveway packing up the van for our next adventure.



Daycare outings always bring me some sort of amusement. Not only are the kids in their supreme glory at looking at something other than my backyard, there is sure to be the odd onlooker who just can not refrain from comment. Does it not make you both laugh and feel proud when some mother makes the familiar comment, "I don't know how you do it". All the while she is struggling to physically remove her kicking, screaming child from the splash pad getting herself soaked in the process. Of course, this is the time when the daycare provider stands up from her lawn chair and yells at her gang to come on over. Without hesitation they promptly run over as asked. You can't help but let out that smug smile you were trying to control as the commenting mom is still engaged in battle. Maybe I should just tell her how I do it. Ah, heck, let her learn the hard way. Besides, introducing yourself at the city park while mom is in the midst of prying her child's hand from the metal water rails with a "Hi, I'm Judy. Here's my blog. Read it and you too will know my secret" is hardly appropriate.



Yes, this summer there will be many, many occasions wherein you will find me putting together a dozen tuna sandwiches, a pound of hulled strawberries, seven sippy cups, five bananas, a stack of towels, bottles of sunscreen, extra sun hats, sand pails, shovels, band aids, wipes, diapers and a blanket. And then don't ask me why I need to also pack myself a lawn chair. Getting there is the most exhausting part of the trip. Well, that and the one thousand times I will hear, "Are we ready to go yet?" from seven sets of lips.



Field trips are fun - for the kids. For the provider they are more work than staying at home. Just remind me of that before I go. Because once I get there and sit in my chair feeling the warm breeze pass by while listening to the kids giggle I won't remember a thing but that moment.


For concerns, advice or suggestions I welcome your email at judytrickett@yahoo.ca