Summer vacation fun
Another week to go and then starts my overtime. Yes my daughters start their summer vacation. All these years, I never sent them to any summer camps – I used to think that I could do a better job of keeping them entertained at home – when I have done it for 9 and half years I can do for 60 days no big deal. But this year I am having second thoughts…

Well there is no major paradigm shift in my thinking so to say, but then the options available are so interesting that it makes more sense to send them and get them to have a whole new experience.

For my older one, there are options ranging from a Theatre/Drama course to a Science-experiment based one. Of course we have ‘I do everything’ kind of camps where u can pick a couple of indoor, couple of outdoor activities and have peace for 4-5 hours every weekday.  My younger one who is almost 6 can take a pick from craft classes, art classes, cooking  dance and music and the like. No heavy duty learning stuff for her. Some places even offer a once a week field trip to a farm, planetarium and the like. Then there is the usual swimming and tennis reserved for noons and evenings. They love to read, I am sure there will be couple of visits to the library over the week. So I think that if they doesn’t get tired by the end of it, they can look at me for inspiration and flop down on the sofa to look at her eyelids….Notice how my husband is missing from the action in all this. Vacations may come or go but his office ensures that they schedule some important project release close to the holidays and make a mess out of any longish vacation plans.

I have never attended a summer camp all my life and don’t think I have done badly for myself. I remember two months long holidays in my granddad’s place where we cousins used to get together and laze around in the mornings, followed by a relaxed breakfast and lunch and follow it up with long Monopoly/carom sessions and end the day with long walks to the beach and get a Aavin cone /Ambika puff as a treat at the end of it all. I remember the many stories my granddad used to conjure up for us. I learnt to play a game of ‘Chozi’, make a cup with the jackfruit tree leaf and maybe a little bit of gardening too from him. But those days are all gone. When we were in high school, during the summer vacations, my dad took us for 10-15 days to show us places around India. We never went just to Shimla, we took time to explore Chandigarh, the Kumaon range, check out Bhimtal and other such way off places along the way. It helped that he worked for a PSU so he had sufficient leave for a long holiday. Those memories stay a lot longer than a 3 day 2 night package in a lush resort that we tend to favour these days.

These days, parents cannot be away from their home base for that long. Kids also get bored and miss their friends back home. And there are only so many stories /games the poor grandparents can think of. And add to that the blessed IPL matches during the summer holidays and you can ensure that come evening and no one wants to step out of their homes – so there is no scope for any socializing in the evenings…. Lalit Modi I hate you for this….


So that is pretty much my summer plan for this year – get the kids off to a camp, get them to do a sport in the afternoon / early evening and then send them out to play later and I can see days zooming past.

So will my daughters like it? Well ask me that on June 1st :) Happy holidays to all the kiddos and their moms…

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