There are two words guaranteed to make a parent’s blood boil during summer vacation: “I’m bored.”
Children know it. They know the closet is crammed with toys and the bikes have filled one side of the garage. They’ll dare to say it anyway. “Mom, I’m bored.”
Turn off the TV. Summer is far from boring, say Diana Lewis of Wheaton and Micah Downs of Aurora. Lewis and Downs hope a booklet they’ve written will help erase those words and replace them with, “Where are we going today?”
“Where Are We Going Today?” is a 45-page parent guide to field trips for kids, published by the two summer day-care providers who take their group of children on four field trips a week.
Sears Tower skydeck? Been there. Kline Creek Farm? Done that. DuPage County Solid Waste Education Center? Yes.
“I have found that the busier and more active the children are off site, the easier it is on all of us,” said Lewis, who has been running a home day care for 17 years, first in West Chicago and now in Wheaton. “Children who are bored misbehave.”
For the last eight years, Lewis has been taking field trips with the children who come to her home day care in the summer. Two years ago, she met Downs, a kindergarten teacher at Hawthorne School in Wheaton who provides day care for two children during the summer months. Lewis and Downs hit it off so well that they now spend several days a week together during the summer. Downs drives Lewis’ 15-seater van, and Lewis navigates, cares for the children and uses her cellular phone to work out last-minute details.
Early this spring, Lewis met with her day-care families, many of whom have become extended family to her. She showed them the calendar of field trips she had arranged, each trip researched and planned to the tiniest detail. Then on June 10, the first day her school-age children arrived, they kicked off the summer with a trip to Drury Lane theater in Evergreen Park and then out to eat at Snackville Junction in the southwest suburb.
Lewis cares for seven 5- to 12-year-olds and five children under 5. She does not attempt to take all of them but leaves her assistant at home with the younger children. She takes the seven older ones plus her own daughter, Emily, 6; Downs and the two children he cares for.
Some trips, like those to Rice Lake swimming pool in Wheaton or Morton Arboretum, are close by. Many of their trips are to the city or places as far as an hour away.
“We wrote the book because we wanted to see kids doing all the things we do. We wanted them to get hands-on experiences,” said Downs, who got the group into hiking. “We love to hike. Hiking and picnicking is a fun and very inexpensive way to spend time together.”
Their booklet is divided into four sections: “Hiking Trips,” “City Trips,” “Trips Just for Fun” and “Other Great Trips.” In the back is an “Idea Index” providing parents all kinds of tips, including to put sheets of Bounce fabric softener on the corner of the picnic table to keep bees away.
“We’ve done the trial and error,” said Downs, who grimaces with the memory of the long line for the Omnimax theater at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. “We found out the hard way how to go on some of the trips. We want to pass on the right way to make it easier for parents.”
Kirsten and Lisa Harris of Wheaton are spending their sixth summer at Lewis’ home day care. “They couldn’t wait for school to end so they could go back to Diana’s,” said their mother, Barb Harris. While their parents work, the children, 7 and 9, are off on summer adventures. “They’ve been to places I have never been. They were to Navy Pier before me,” Barb Harris said.
Lewis and Downs run their own soccer camp for their day-care children. And for two weeks, she takes all of the children to swimming lessons.
Parents might ask, “How do they do it?”
A detail person, Lewis calls first and asks many questions. The conversation begins with directions but leads to prices (free admission or discount days), where to get coupons, where to park, where they can picnic and bathroom capacity.
“The more prepared you are, the easier it flows. The easier it flows, the happier the parents are and the happier the children are,” Lewis said. “Even spontaneous trips are better if they’re planned. Do your research earlier, then stash the plan until the right day comes along.”
Have a backup. When she planned a day at Santa’s Village and awoke to rain, they went to Shedd Aquarium instead.
Help children assume responsibility. Everyone carries their own coat, hat and backpack with a lunch. The children learn that at the end of the day, even Ms. Diana and Mr. Downs are tired, he said.
Field trips don’t happen until the chores are done. Children make their own lunches from the selections she presents.
They stay home on Friday to rest, make journal pages about their field trips so they can have a book of summer experiences when school starts and prepare for the next week. Sometimes they bake. Sometimes they wash the van.
Hiking at various nature preserves and parks is big on their agenda, providing a peaceful time for people to talk and be together, Downs said. Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center in Willow Springs and Pratt’s Wayne Woods are two of their favorites.
With each field trip in the book, the authors give directions, a description, costs, hours open and “Trip Tips” that include good places to eat a picnic lunch near your destination, where to park cheaply and what hours to avoid. They hope to put out a second edition with more trips next year.
Last summer, they had an environmental theme to many of their trips, seeing places like the Cernan Earth & Space Center at Triton College in River Grove. This year they are doing factory tours, including the printing presses at a suburban newspaper, a candymaker and Eli’s Cheesecake facilities.
Children need activities that are physical and educational as well as fun, Lewis said. She keeps tapes and CDs in her van to ease the ride. They pack coolers with drinks and snacks and always have essentials such as beach toys, jump ropes, inflatable beach balls and sunscreen. Often they will stop at a park on the way home, and fun-loving Lewis is apt to have filled some water balloons if it’s a hot day.
“You have to organize yourself to get the most out of being with them,” said Lewis, who delights in the water fights as much as the kids. “When you’re out with your children, be with them. Don’t be watching from the park bench. Remembering that kid in you is very important.”
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`Where Are We Going Today?” can be purchased for $7 by calling Diana Lewis in Wheaton at 630-682-4152 or sending a check for $10 (which includes shipping and handling) to Diana Lewis at 1590 S. Prospect, Wheaton, Ill. 60187.
