Ready or not, it’s coming to your neighborhood, your street, your front door and will quickly take over your entire house. Upon its arrival, it will occupy every wakening moment of your day. It has an unquenchable appetite for money and time — yours.
Summer break — It’s coming.
The Grand Countdown started in earnest the first Monday after Easter, and folks all over this small town are in a race to get ready. Once it arrives, it will stay around for two months. Readers’ Special Warning: All parents out there need to prepare now! That is, if you want even a small chance of survival.
Either by plane, train, automobile, or even foot — getting kids out of the house will be key to making it through the long days ahead. Spring has sprung all over our fair town and that can only mean one thing — there’s only a few more weeks of school.
Soon, kids will be home all day.
With almost two months off from school and tons of free time on their hands, there’s no telling what kids are gonna get into. If you don’t find something to keep them entertained, they’ll find it themselves, and you don’t want that.
But don’t worry. Chances are, whatever they do this summer, it’s been done before — whether it’s adventures, misadventures, or just things that make you stop, look and then ask, “Why did you do that?” That is, if they are anything like the kids I grew up with.
Thinking back to those seven magical years my three brothers, The Sister, and I spent growing up on Flamingo Street, we only got into trouble when we had too much free time on our hands with nothing to do. That usually happened when we were out of school for the long summer break. I’ll explain.
Just because Tarzan can grab a vine and swing through the jungle doesn’t mean it’s a good idea, especially if the vine you grab is one of those hairy ones commonly referred to as poison ivy. Roasting marshmallows is fun, but a flaming marshmallow war that inadvertently sets the woods on fire isn’t. And trust me, trying to convince your parents it was the bully who lives down the street that set the fire will not work.
Playing tag while riding bikes barefooted isn’t a good idea, unless you want to spend the rest of the day at the hospital. You can’t outrun a swarm of angry bees, especially right after you hit their nest with a rock.
Telling your parents that you will be spending the night over at a friend’s house only works if you actually do it. Throwing water balloons at cars on a moonless night is not a good idea, especially when one of the cars turns out to be a police car patrolling the area looking for kids throwing water balloons at cars.
Back on Flamingo, I never really understood how my parents were so smart. They seemed to know just about everything even before we did, especially the trouble we were going to get into during the summer. I now know why. They had done the very same things when they were kids. They just didn’t tell us in the hopes that we would make smarter choices.
That didn’t work.
Kids are going to be kids and will have some of the same misadventures we did when we were kids, and our parents did when they were kids. Getting bumps, bruises, and a few broken bones along the way are all part of growing up. I know our granddaughters can’t be wrapped in bubble wrap all summer to keep them safe. (Besides, that only works for a little while, then they start giggling as they pop their way free.)
I have to let them grow up, even though I know some of the things they’ll do will get them hurt. If they don’t learn how to get back up after falling down as a kid, they won’t know how to as an adult. Besides, our parents didn’t wrap us up in bubble wrap to keep us safe for those seven summers we spent growing up back on Flamingo. Then again, there was a good reason why they didn’t.
Bubble wrap hadn’t been invented yet.
[Rick Ryckeley has been writing stories since 2001.]
