Overrated: Summer vacation anything but, for tormented moms

Thank God it's over.

Every June it's the same thing: my tightly-honed schedule comes crashing down around my ears, and chaos reigns supreme for the next three months.

All parents know what I'm talking about: Summer vacation.

Since I work from home, some working parents would assume I have it easy when school lets out for the summer. Anything but! Suddenly there are camps, a different one for each kid (and always on opposite ends of town) that I need to drive them to. Hours are spent chauffeuring, entertaining, feeding...all the tedious chores I get to ignore when they're happily in school, learning and playing with their friends, under the watchful eyes of professionals.

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Then there's the hit on my wallet, trying to find them exciting things to do during summer vacation. These camps add up. A week here, a week there. None of them ever a full-day. But the alternative, leaving them at home, is a recipe for disaster too. They will sit and watch TV and play Nintendo until they're zombies. With their friends.

It's not clear how a nine-month school-year came to be followed by a three-month vacation. Some say it stems from our rural, farm-dwelling past, when kids were needed for the harvest. But harvest is in the fall, and planting is done in April/May.