I'm so not ready to be a soccer mom

Summer is here and, with it, questions about what we will be doing in lieu of preschool for our 4-year-old boy-girl twins. Like some friends of ours, we haven't signed up for summer school (because we do a co-op preschool and while we all love it, we also need a break...). I work part-time, so our part-time nanny will continue giving us 20 or so hours a week during the summer, but she doesn't drive the kids and I don't want them to be bored to death being mainly at home or at our local park. So....I have decided to sign the kids up for a few weeks of summer camps to break up the monotony/routine/etc.

What are we going to do? Last year this question would not have been a problem. My then-3-year-olds would have been happy to do the same thing. Boys in dance class? Bring on the purple tutu. Girls in soccer - love it! Now? Well....let's just say my twins have really discovered their

gender identities over the past year and are firmly planted on Boy and Girl sides of things. For instance, my daughter will play princess dress-up, have dance parties and baby her baby dolls (not to mention her baby sister), while my son shouts "Whack him!" at Luke Skywalker on the movie screen as he battles Darth Vadar, wrestles with his guy friends at school and does karate moves to the baby swing. Pink is squarely for the girls, while Blue is firmly for the boys.

I try to encourage the kids' interest in all activities and not be totally gender-guided, but I feel like 99.9% of it is their own (and/or their friends?) doing. It just is the way it is. An aside - there is that interesting double standard for the girls in that it can be cool for a girl to be athletic and tough and play sports and get dirty and wear her brother's camo pants, but somewhat unacceptable for a boy to do ballet and wear a princess dress after a certain age. Why is that? Totally unfair, right?

Anyway, the camps I am planning on for the summer include a Youth Science Institute camp at Vasona Park, then my daughter wants to do a dance camp and swim class, and my son wants to do a soccer camp and karate class. I will sign them both up for the science and soccer. Swim would be fine for both, but for some reason my son stopped being so interested (and its too expensive for the interest not to be there, especially since we can just go "swim" in our hot tub in the backyard whenever we like). Dance - definitely my daughter. Karate - definitely my son. Ok. Well, here's the rub. My daughter's dance camp is the same week as one of the soccer camps. At first blush, this sounds ideal - just have the girl do dance and the boy do soccer and there you have it. The problem is that the pickup times are the same. Being even 5 minutes away from in each other in location does not help, as you know how these things go - the kids take a while to get their stuff together, say good-bye to their friends, you to say hello and good-bye to the moms. And the kids WILL freak out if I am not right there to pick them up at the end of camp - after all, they are only 4! Also, the last day of dance class includes a performance and the last day of soccer includes a game - both of which I will want to attend. So....even if I could work out another mom to do pickups, or trading off with my husband for a few of them, I feel like I'm still missing out and they are missing out.

I know this is just the tip to the iceberg for us in shuttling the kids around to different activities at different times. I know there are things I will just have to miss. That I will have to get used to carpooling. That I can't be in 2...no, wait, 3 (as the twins have a younger sister as well)...no, wait, 4 (since I work part-time) different places at once. Does it have to start now? Already? Help - I'm so not ready to deal with this soccer mom role.

Original Silicon Valley Moms Blog post. When not dealing with her boy-girl twins' summer schedule, Linsey can be found at Me Too You, Whereas and Mad About Multiples.