Summertime SanityIt’s summer. That means a lot...

Summertime Sanity

It’s summer. That means a lot of children are home for school vacation--and a lot of parents are going crazy.

But the Los Angeles Unified School District is once again offering a daily solution to the problem of keeping your idle kids out of harm’s way.

Trained workers are running open playgrounds from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at the 134 elementary, junior high and high school campuses around the San Fernando Valley that have not gone on a year-round schedule. Children can be dropped off to play games, busy themselves with arts and crafts, or maybe even spend some time in the library.

“It’s not child care,” said Pete Anderson, a field coordinator for the district’s Valley Youth Services.

But it is free and it is supervised.

At selected schools, the district offers such exotica as computer and cooking classes, field trips and magic shows. Parents can check with playground workers at the nearest school or call Youth Services at (818) 997-2577 for sites and schedules.

Juvenile Escrow

Another favorite summer activity for children is the back-yard playhouse. In earlier times, kids would steal some lumber from the neighbor’s woodpile, borrow dad’s hammer and start to work. These days, erecting a playhouse is a more sophisticated endeavor.

Stores offer prefabricated kiddie structures that come with working windows and fixtures, wallpaper and a garage. Such tiny mansions can sell for as much as $4,000. Parents shop as if they were selecting the family home.

“We looked for a long time before we found one we liked,” said Bill Bedinghaus of Westlake Village, who recently purchased a $2,300 cottage from Sennergetics in Northridge for his 4-year-old daughter. “Right now, we’re picking out linoleum for the wood floor.”

Janna Bedinghaus’ playhouse has a porch and a loft. She plays inside while her parents watch from their house.

“We wanted to give her a place where she could have some privacy and act out her childhood fantasies,” her father said. “She gets in there and pretends she’s making a meal. We go out and she serves us dinner.”

Kids’ Flix Pix

Not all children are eager to venture out of the house . . . the real one, that is. Video rental shops say that summer is the busiest season for children’s movies.

“People are trying to keep their kids busy,” said Greg Vossberg, manager of 20-20 Video in Van Nuys.

According to Vossberg and clerks at other Valley video stores, this summer’s hot hits are “The Little Mermaid” and any of the five “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” videos. Other top rentals include:

* “Bambi”

* “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”

* Berenstain Bears videos

* Any of the Disney animated classics

Old Bugs Bunny videotapes have returned to popularity because the cartoon character recently celebrated a 50th anniversary that got a lot of press. The Jetsons episodes are getting hot again, too, because a full-length movie version was just released in theaters with attendant publicity.

“The children’s videos are almost like evergreens,” said Terrel Frey, a video buyer for the Music Plus chain. “They keep being popular for years.”

Delicate Fashions

Summer is a time for new fashions, and small children are getting more fashionable all the time. Such haute couture has its demands, even for a baby--infant and children’s clothes are increasingly being made of fabrics that require dry-cleaning.

A saleswoman at European Kids in Sherman Oaks said some labels in the store are for dry-clean only, and that these are “the more dressy dresses.”

The idea of a baby spitting up on a dress that must be taken to the cleaners might annoy some parents. So might the vision of a toddler rolling in the mud or spilling food while wearing an outfit that costs several dollars to clean. But shopkeepers say such items are selling well.

And many dry-cleaners, for their part, offer discounts up to 60% off for cleaning infant clothes.

But not everyone is sold on this fashion fad. Elana Zimmerman, owner of “Baby and Me” in Northridge, sells dry-clean, holiday-type dresses for babies as young as 6 months. She says: “I would never purchase something like that for a baby.”