once more around the block.
dispatches from a summer without paid childcare.
I started this letter on the official first day of summer vacation for New York City public school kids. The day was bathtub warm and nearly that humid and we celebrated with ice creams and a potluck in the park which we largely missed because sometimes everyone just needs to eat at home with the low buzz of the air conditioner for comfort. It’s hard to stay composed in blistering heat.
I’m continuing the letter just after dawn, a week later, at my parents’ kitchen table. My kids are sleeping upstairs. My dad just made coffee and is headed into his office. If I’m lucky my kids will be exhausted enough from yesterday’s swimming that they’ll sleep in for another hour or two. We’re here for a week and then back to the city, a pattern of city and small town flip-flopping that we’ll continue for much of the summer.
This year, James and I are attempting a summer without paid childcare of any kind. It’s an experiment in our personal parenting fortitude, radical acceptance of our financial reality, and the grim disconnect between the exorbitant cost of living, childcare, and salaries in the place we call home. It’s also an attempt to take a break from the relentless obligation to always be working and ordered and predictable, for all of us.