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Nobody's Home

I'm finding out how different a world it is for my children versus my childhood in the summer.  Now I've got the summers off because I teach (or try to anyway) and am able to spend quite a bit of time with my children, yet I want them to realize that I'm not going to incessantly entertain them.  They need to find things to do on their own.  The sizable difference, between myself and them, is that many of their friends don't have the summer "off."  These children are in daycare, at a grandparents, somewhere other than home.  There aren't many children around for mine to play with.
Growing up in the '70s, I seem to remember most of my classmates available for playing nearly all the time.  Now, so many families have to send both parents to work that the children aren't home to play in the summer.  That's what I'd call a "cruel, cruel summer."

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