Surviving School Vacation Week - 2/18/09

All right, who's sick of school vacation? Quick show of hands...

If you're reading this, then you have successfully reached "hump day", the middle of February vacation week. If you're not reading this, then you are among the lucky that are frolicking with dolphins in a warmer climate or perhaps ditching an afternoon ski lesson for a leisurely massage or facial.

As for the rest of us...Hang on. You're almost home free.

February vacation must be a New England invention. In my native New Jersey, we had Christmas vacation and Easter vacation (back before the words Christmas and Easter were banned from school, now it's Winter and Spring Break). President’s Day was commemorated with just one single day. We Jersey-ites lump our founding fathers in with Columbus and MLK and everything else that warrants a mere three-day weekend. What prompted this region to stretch it to an entire week?

One friend explained that February vacation was born in order to save fuel costs for the schools. Hmmm, let's see. Winter. New England. Cold. Did they not plan for this? Another friend told me it was because so many families were pulling their kids out of school to go skiing for the week. Poor little Billy and Sally; We can't expect them to learn arithmetic and spelling while their friends are off skiing moguls and enjoying hot cocoa après ski, can we? We'll just go ahead and shut down the entire school instead.

Whatever the reason, February vacation is here to stay. So if you're not off at some exotic locale, you're just going to have to muddle through the next few days.

February vacation has both its good and its not-so-good points. It's good not waking up early for the bus. It’s not so good bribing or threatening your kids in order to make it through an entire spin class. It's good not packing school lunches. It's not so good answering the question, "Mom, what do we have to eat?" sixteen times a day. It's good to spend quality time with your children. It's so very, very not good taking them grocery shopping.

Play dates can be your best friend (when they are at someone else's house) or your worst enemy (when they are at yours). A sleepover can either be a godsend or a nightmare (see above). The local movie theater can also be your savior, but be prepared for everyone else in town to have the same brilliant idea. Purchase your tickets online, or prepare yourself to be fitted with a neck brace after sitting in the front row of "Hotel for Dogs".

I find that it’s all about balance. I’ll use some of this free time to take my children to the Institute of Contemporary Art and expose them to a little culture. And then another day we’ll stay home in our pajamas and have a "Lord of the Rings" movie marathon.

Call me clairvoyant: I predict that by the end of this week my house will be a shambles, the pantry will be bare, laundry will be piled higher than my husband and there will be a nearly empty wine bottle in my fridge.

Whatever gets you through the week.