A lesson in the afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon I was walking along the waterfront with my kids, enjoying the warm yet refreshing breeze blowing in off the harbour. Up ahead we could see a large group of children running around, playing games.

"Who are they, Mommy?" asked one of the boys.
"Oh, that looks like a day-camp," I replied. "Do you think you guys would like to go to a day-camp everyday of the summer instead of being at home all the time?"
"No," Nicholas answered with confident conviction. "I wouldn't. I would hate to go to a day-camp. I would rather be at home."

I'm not entirely sure if he even really understood what a day-camp actually is, but to him, whatever it was could not compare to being at home. See, I have often considered (albeit very briefly, and not too seriously) looking into sending my boys to some kind of summer-camp activity, if not everyday, then at least a couple of days a week. People have said to me on more than one occasion, that I should send them to a camp to get them out of my hair. And judging from the amount of kids at the park today - not with their mothers - it seems to be the norm.

Another thing that happened to seal my growing conviction against day-camps: We were walking into the children's section of the library and Jacob and Amelia immediately ran to check out the toys. I asked Nicholas why he didn't go look to see what there was to play with and he says, "No, I'd rather sit down and talk to you." We had been discussing various Halifax topics while we ate our Tim Horton's under the shade of a tree at the park. One, the Halifax Explosion in which I tried to explain falteringly the whens and hows of the whole ordeal. Two, there is a broken propeller on display at the park and I told the kids I used to climb on it when I was a kid myself and that began a whole discussion about the propeller, why it was there and even more interesting, why it was broken. Nicholas feels very intrigued by life and always has a million and one questions about anything that piques his interest. So, when we got to the library, he wanted to continue picking my brain for answers. Not that I have many, but to him I am Knowledge personified. Or something.

Anyway, my point is, I cannot imagine packing my kids off to a camp everyday. I really needed these little instances to happen today though. Yesterday was officially the first day of summer vacation, where it was just the kids and I and nothing on our to-do list except laundry and a trip to Costco. I dread those kind of days. And I was not disappointed: Their behaviour almost had me locking myself in my room a couple of times. They were tired from our busy weekend and I was not in the mood. And then today, although they were in a much better frame of mind, and overall it was a much better day than yesterday, there were still a couple of moments when the frustration rose a little bit too high.

But is life supposed to be easy? If I find being a mom hard, am I supposed to take the easy way out and ship them off to a day-camp so I don't have to face the grimy, exhausting task before me? I have been called to this and my kids need me. They need me to rise to the occasion and be their mom, even when I really don't feel like it.

And I have to say, I loved our afternoon of Tim Horton's and chatting under a tree, on a breezy and beautiful summer day.