For many students in my area, President’s Day is the kickoff to a mid-winter break. This break actually began in the public school system, when the city asked the teachers union for a financial deal of some kind (a loan, I think) and the teachers said they’d do that in exchange for the full week off instead of spreading them around the two Presidents’ birthdays.
This week often leaves parents reeling for finding someone to watch their children while they go to work. Some families obviously vacation this week, but since the airlines and hotels know this, guess what? The price goes up, way up. I tried to book a flight during this week on a discount airline and found that the price for a ticket to Florida was FOUR times what the airline will charge us when we travel to the same destination at the end of March! There is an incredible demand on travel during the week, and if it should snow, as it did on the Sunday before Presidents’ Day, then getting out may not be so easy at all.
Some child care centers have special arrangements for the week off, cashing in on the increased demand themselves. Museums also reach out to the public this week: some of them are normally closed to the public one or even two weekdays in order to run special school programs, but during this holiday they are open to everyone. My girls went to one on Monday, in fact.
Despite the fact that this week can be rough on parents, I have to say there is one major benefit of having the kids stay home: they keep their germs to themselves and don’t share them with their classmates!
This winter has been an awful one. It’s been fairly warm in the northeast but germs love the warmer weather – if it were really cold from December until early March, there would be fewer sick schoolchildren. The kindergarten teacher came down with strep. Several of the moms I met got something like that, too. Someone even mentioned scarlet fever! My youngest seems to have had a cough since the new year began. My oldest has been going to bed very early, sometimes complaining of being too cold (she had a fever, but only for one day). Doctors have never been so busy.
I know that no child wants to have this week off from school and have to spend it all in bed sick (well, some of them would rather at least be in bed – the sick part they could do without). But it’s actually a good thing for them to rest and recuperate. Especially the little ones who’ve been working so hard. The week gives them the time to let all that education sift in. And if they are sick, they really do get a lot more TLC and more time to enjoy it. They get to rediscover old toys and games they forgot about.
My week, sadly, was pretty much as it was. I had to work, even on Monday. But we were able to keep the girls busy. Monday was the museum. Tuesday was a play date with friends, and I was home in the morning, long enough to get the little one to take a nap. I also took my nephew (who’s almost a teenager) to work. Wednesday was my day off, and the girls and I took their big cousin to breakfast. Thursday was a big excursion to the Crayola factory. Friday I only had a meeting to go to, so I was around in the morning and was back by the middle of the afternoon. The girls got a ton of books and videos out of the library, and we read and watched and made a nice little feast.
The weekend is almost over, and the old routines return Monday. Hopefully the schools will have been thoroughly disinfected before the doors open!