As teachers pop the champagne and schedule full-body massages, mothers are slowly descending into madness. Summer break stretches ahead like a sunburned, melted-fudgesicle 10K, with lots of family time. So much family time.

As a young mother in the 20th century, summer vacation was a blur of wet towels, lost flip-flops, and popsicle sticks stuck to couch cushions. My daughters spent the days selling Kool-Aid to neighbors, watching hours of PBS’s “Arthur,” and fighting nonstop. 

I tried to keep a schedule, but it flew out the window the first day, along with my common sense and sanity. Although we went to parks, pools, hiking trails, libraries, zoos and museums, my daughters were always “sooo bored!” It was like trying to fill a bottomless, thankless pit. 

Looking back, I was so lucky. Not because I could spend so much “quality time” with my kids, but because I wasn’t working out of the home. It was absolutely exhausting, but I didn’t have to worry about what my kids would do during the summer.

The school calendar was not created for single mothers, full-time working parents or children who need snacks every five minutes. It was designed for farmers who churn their own butter and rise at dawn to feed chickens. 

Today, moms are scrambling to find camps, sitters, daycare and programs to keep kids occupied during the summer break because many mothers have full-time jobs and can’t take the summer off. 

People rarely ask fathers, “What will your kids do all summer? How will you balance your job and family?” Nope. Everything usually falls to moms, most of whom can’t afford camps or additional daycare costs. 

I researched “Summer strategies for working moms” and was given ideas like 1) hire a summer nanny, 2) enroll in pricey camps early, or 3) rent children to an influencer. 

Who do they think these mothers are? Kardashians? I added a fourth option: quit your job and live in a van by the river. 

When my daughters were little, there were several working moms in the neighborhood and their kids would hang out with us all summer. They were part of the noisy, sticky clan, constantly bickering about who got grass in the blow-up pool. 

Now, mothers are anxiously waiting for their lottery numbers to hit or a magical Mary Poppins character to show up and take control of their unruly children. Barring that, there aren’t a lot of viable options, especially in this economy.

Grandparents and other family members alleviate some of the summer schedule strain, but with about 10 weeks of out-of-school time, mothers often resort to late-night spiraling and stress eating. 

It’s not all hopeless. Companies are finally realizing they’ll have happier, healthier, more productive female employees if they offer flexibility. 

Progressive CEOs provide summer childcare stipends or offer discounts to local camps. Work-from-home options, summer PTO bonuses, flexible start/end times and early-out Fridays would make a mother’s summer a gajillion times easier, as well as fathers who need scheduling help for the school break. 

Maybe that’s the answer! Instead of asking companies to make things easier for moms, let’s say the dads need help. Businesses will immediately build on-site splash pads, create kid-friendly office spaces and partner with local teams to host summer-long sports camps. 

Somewhere along the way, summer break turned into a summer breakdown. Parents aren’t asking for luxury vacations, just a bit of time to sit by the pool, yell at kids to stop yelling and maybe even pop some champagne. We should be able to make that work. 

Peri Kinder is an award-winning columnist and journalist who has written for The City Journals since 2004. She also hosts the Life & Laughter podcast. Peri can be reached at [email protected].