Impossible August

August in Israel is the blackest month of the year for the average parent. Kindergartens and schools are in the midth of the summer holiday and all the organized summer activities of July are over! Now parents have to improvise so that their children are cared for, kept busy and are not bored and all this without taking time off work, or reducing this time to a minimum. An Israeli employee gets only 10 days holiday a year, so even if the average parent did not take days off during the year and has all 10 for august, that still only covers two weeks of work.

In the case of toddlers like Jonathan, who go to a private day care center, the day care center is officially open until August 8th. Then there is two weeks of summer activities for extra pay and then only ten days in which the day care center is closed. We pay for our comforts! For starters – although the official activity is only until august 8th, we are required to pay for a full month! For just 6 days of service !!! *not even 8 days, there is always a weekend n there somewhere...). And then there is extra pay for the two weeks summer activity! This is scandalous, but disparate parents have learned to live with it!
In the public kindergartens it's worse, because for bigger children there is a two month summer holiday, and summer activities (again, with extra pay) cover only July! The higher month price for the private day care center pays off when you consider that you only have to improvise for 10 days a year!

Parents in Israel mobilize anyone available to care for their kids. Sisters, aunts, and of course mommy mom (grandma) all lend a hand! Many also do take time off work. In many cases this time is not used for a family holiday, but rather taking turns in caring for the kids, so mommy takes 10 days off and then day does and so the impossible august is covered. With grandma's help, daddy and mommy can take off some time together and still have a family holiday in August! To add to all this hassle, August is the hottest month of the year here, and with global warming it is becoming insufferable! This is also not the best time to go on holiday in Israel, because of the scorching heat!

In my particular case, I had it easy this year! For starters, as my husband was between jobs, he could care for Jonathan for a week. I also finagled the owner of the daycare center for a discount (with the argument that my husband is not working...) so that Jonathan could stay until the August 15th in the center and I did not pay extra for this one week of summer program. For the last 10 days of august (The deadly 10! ha ha) I had a solution in the shape for my mother in law, who came all the way from Germany to care for the boy! The 10 days she spent with us were heaven for me, I could come home and all was tidy and I did not have to start organizing everything. Just come home from work and put my feet up! For 10 days I had a full time aupair! Wow! What luxury! Made me think of moving to a house out of town with more rooms, so I could hire an aupair for the whole year through!
In the end I took only one day off in August! And this is a big achievement for a working mother! I took a day off, so I could send some time with my mother in law! It seemed only fair to do so, considering the amount of help she gave me in this impossible august!

August is over, but no so the parent's torment. The two first days of September are the “getting used to the day care center again” days. This means the daycare center (and also public kindergartens and schools) work only 2 or 3 hours on September 1st and 2nd. Again the working mother needs to mobilize the helpers! I called my mother in China! (she went to the Olympic games with my dad as their annual vacation) to make sure she could come over on Sept. 2nd. And then I called my sister for help on Sept. 1st only then it turned out that my husband\s new job just started today, so September 1st he covered for me. Today, Sept. 2nd, my mother came to help. Tomorrow, thank God! The daycare center returns to full time work! But bliss is short lived! October brings with it the Jewish holidays and again the daycare center will be closed! There is a bright side to this though, with just 4 days of leave I will have two weeks off work because of the Jewish holiday season, so I will have time to relax and also be there for my Jonathan! And the weather will be nicer! So, I am trying to keep an optimistic view on things to come.