Calendar ambush

A few weeks ago, I sat down with my laptop with a level of determination usually reserved for university applications. Summer camp registration season had arrived.

I had researched themes, compared schedules, mapped out drop-off locations, calculated costs, coordinated weeks around work commitments and family plans, and somehow managed to get every kid into my first-choice camps. It was a miracle and a relief to see my perfectly colour-coded calendar showing the location of all three kids, just as I had meticulously planned it. For one brief moment, I had mastered the summer schedule.

Until days later, when someone casually mentioned that Labour Day falls late this year. Meaning there’s an extra week I had somehow failed to account for.

I must have misunderstood. Surely a person who spent this much time planning couldn’t have forgotten an entire week of childcare. And yet, as I swiped my calendar from August to September, there it was: that empty last week of summer.

The funny thing about summer camp registration is that by the time you actually secure the spots, you feel like you’ve survived some sort of administrative endurance sport. The registration process is anxiety-inducing. Some camps fill in minutes, making registration season feel like stepping into the Hunger Games.

But isn’t summer meant to be the ultimate carefree season? How did I end up here in late-spring, hunched over my laptop with white-knuckled intensity, frantically refreshing registration portals?

And who knew I could get so emotionally wrapped up in the camp themes? I suddenly developed very intense feelings about the merits of “Creative Cove” over “Lakeside Legends,” even though I know my kids would be just as thrilled digging holes in the dirt with a sturdy stick.

So after all that planning, one over-looked week completely dismantled my illusion of having summer under control. No amount of calendar syncs, back-up camps, or research saved me from this mistake. But at this point, there isn’t much left to do except laugh.

The extra week exists. My kiddos still need supervision. And apparently, no amount of planning fully conquers summer.

So instead of going back to the drawing board and scrambling to patch together another camp option, I’ve decided to take the week off.

Will it be relaxing? Probably not. Will my patience be tested trying to make special memories with the kids? Absolutely. But at this point, leaning into chaos feels easier than trying to out-organize it. And maybe this unexpected week off will end up being the best one of the summer.

So, if you think you nailed your summer childcare plans already, this is your friendly reminder to count the weeks one more time.