School vacation week again? So soon? Didn’t we just do school vacation?
This time it crept up with no warning; I mean no reminders. The request came only two days before the scheduled vacation week, which is not to be taken as a complaint. After all, grandparents do not complain, at least not in front of certain parties — even after we’ve driven 30 miles south to pick up a grandchild from school only to find out she isn’t there due to an overlooked dentist appointment. “Stuff happens,” we say with philosophical finesse, apologies accepted. “Our adult children have such busy lives,” we sigh, with such generosity of spirit. In the privacy of our own home however, we might whine a tad. “What am I chopped liver?” But in reality we are so grateful for our local grandchildren, ready to schlepp at a moment’s notice and forgive a few missed messages.
However, here we are now with that sudden vacation, two 13-year-olds and in dire need of a plan. Usually, as you might recall, our plans involve an excursion to see a wonderful exhibit, despite our grandchildren’s expressed resistance to museum hopping. We’ve done dinosaurs, art museums, and on tap is a science museum in Vermont we just heard about. But as luck would have it, our scheduled time begins on a Monday. Museums are not open on Mondays, which means that Plan A is doomed. Thus Plan B. Do we have a Plan B?
Here’s where the strategy becomes more complex. We must compose a list of possible options and then sell them to the beloved grandchildren. We allow a vote, knowing that limited but structured choices are a useful ploy. However, we get the following results on our brilliant offerings: Thumbs down on yard work, even with the offer of minimum wage compensation. Thumbs down on a hike up a fire tower followed by a pancake lunch with real maple syrup. Thumbs down also on a “great” walk to the Greenfield Swimming Pool. “Cool playground,” we plead, to what looks like eye-rolls. At this point, we are getting worried. But finally one of our suggestions succeeds in earning a two-thumbs-up. Get this — it’s a “scavenger hunt” at Yankee Candle. Really, our two spunky teens want to go indoors, on a glorious afternoon, amid scented wax and faux snow!
We console ourselves with the idea that we can find a quiet place to read, while we send the kids off on their assigned tasks, complex enough to last at least an hour, okay, maybe forty-five minutes. Our homemade scavenger hunt will consist of a few mental challenges and at least a little embarrassment. In fact, it will involve having to talk (politely we underscore) to strangers while holding a very school-like clipboard in hand. It will also offer up some suitable academics. For example, geography: “Find three people who come from different states and write down your answers.” (Spelling counts.) Or again, the civility lessons: “Introduce yourself to three people who work at the store and find out about their jobs.” Then there’s some math. “How fast does the train go around the upper track and how do you know?” And to add spice to the educational merits, a little bit of civics: “Do a poll. Interview ten people and find out who they hope to vote for in November.”
My grandson is convinced they will get in trouble or be kidnapped. His friend is utterly gung-ho. But we find a place to sit and send them off into the madding crowd. And sure enough, it takes them the allotted time, adding a few minutes more to find us again, but they are smiling. I suppose at some point we all need a Plan B, and as it turned out, this wasn’t a bad one. In case you were wondering, the electric train at Yankee Candle goes around the track at three miles an hour according to our scavenger hunt team.
Of course, come school vacations (OMG it’s almost summer vacation) we need all the help we can get. Perhaps some one should invent a Grandparent app, a web site, with lots of collegial encouragement. Which reminds me that Day Two of school vacation presented a different challenge. How about a delightfully energetic 4-year-old paired with his older teen cousin and only so much concentrated Lego time? So nix the scavenger hunt and a museum, go directly to hunting for salamanders in mucky ponds? Any better ideas? Go to Grandparentsintrenches.com. If only.
Ruth Charney lives in Greenfield.