We have all been there…sleeping in the middle of the night, watching a tv show, or enjoying some solitude and out of nowhere comes {Beep} {Beep}, a few seconds go by {Beep} {Beep}. Trying to remember when we changed the batteries last, at the same time pressing the button to be sure the current one is really dead, only to realize that there are no 9 volt batteries in the drawer and they needed to be added to the grocery list. Maybe the risk we take is a few hours, a few days until the trip to the store…it’s been 6 months at least (based on the battery life) that nothing dramatic has happened, so what’s a couple of extra days. 

It snowed a couple of days before, as it does in February in New England. It’s a Friday and a few staff have texted that they weren’t feeling well and they needed the afternoon (blaming a winter bug that had been going around a couple of weeks earlier). You are able to find some coverage and decide that you would work at the site for the afternoon to fill in. After being greeted by kids, a couple of staff seemed bitter and were mumbling how “they” got to go skiing and got the day off. Making a mental note and thinking of personal experience from years past, it occurred to me…I was seeing two versions of the February slide right in front of me.

The February Slide is where staff see warmer weather coming and are exhausted from being inside all winter with limited options and often repetitive programming to keep the kids busy. The propensity to have a long winter weekend often gets veiled in illness or overwhelm with midterms. To most it passes without a glance, encouraging staff to press on and take care of themselves with chicken soup and OJ. 

Like the fire alarm, staff batteries don’t die suddenly. They wear down over time and when not refreshed, the smoke alarm stops working. Staff fall into a low-energy mid-winter pattern, often finding it hard to be active with the kids or come up with something innovative and new. Similar to what fire departments say in changing the alarm batteries when you change the clocks, planning for a recharge helps staff to spring forward out of the February Slide. Asking staff to present fresh “spring ideas” or “challenges” helps to engage and motivate them. Providing a sense of empowerment and voice helps get staff out of the rut of winter and back into the groove of the program.