Crazy, hazy days approaching
by Mary Barrera, Editor-In-Chief

    Moms, get your nails and hair done now because September is the next time you can pamper yourselves again.
    That's right, summer is upon us; the great child migration is on.
    Children all over the country will be released from their schools and unleashed on their parents and the general public for the hottest months of the year.
    What genius came up with that idea?
    Keeping children occupied during the long, boring, hot summer is big business.
    Educational programs such as College for Kids, Zoo School or Museum School teach children with hands-on instruction and shorter class days. Classes are too expensive for me this summer. I'm giving hands-on instruction on how to make chicken nuggets.
    Swimming lessons are available from different schools or from the Red Cross. Children learn how to swim for an hour a day while adults sit in the humidity and wish they could get in the pool.
    Of course, once the children learn how to swim, they want to go swimming every minute of the day.
    If you don't own your own, city pools offer reasonable rates. Some city pools, like one in Hurst, have slides and water guns like a mini water park.
    For those days when pool admission doesn't figure into the budget, there's always the water hose. It's all we had when we were kids (back when we walked to school in three feet of snow).
    Weekly movie clubs show children's films: some good, some mind numbing. But it's two hours a week less worry.
    The zoo is great fun. It's full of the animals they show on Zaboomafoo, and children often run ahead to see what exciting creature is next. It's fun until they run into something that frightens them.
    Have you ever watched children waiting for a hippopotamus to come up for air? They stand there perfectly still and silent for five minutes until the hippo surfaces. If only schoolwork could keep their attention that long.
    Museums can be interesting for kids.
    The Museum of Science and History keeps them occupied. Art museums usually cannot keep children's attention.
    "Look at the pretty picture" works for only so long, and kids can't set off many alarms before you are asked to leave.
    So while you try to survive the summer, a light waits at the end of the tunnel. Eventually, summer turns into fall, and the little urchins must all return to school.
    Unfortunately, so do you.