Right before back-to-school is a 'childcare dead zone.' Here's how we handled it.

The author and two of her friends created a rotating schedule of childcare duties. Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images The week after summer camp is over, but before school starts, is a 'childcare dead zone.' It can be hard to get things done, and this year, two mom friends and I got ahead of it. We compared our schedules and patched together a rotating childcare plan. Six years into this parenting gig, and I still get blindsided by that sneaky, singular week in August when summer camps have ended, and schools have not yet started — also known as the "childcare dead zone." This year, however, we Frankensteined a plan at the last minute with two other families to divide up the weeklong, end-of-summer intermission. We survived, and we couldn't have done it without a little homegrown ingenuity and modern-parent gumption.