When you live with a teacher, there are two words that bring a smile in the winter months: Snow Day.

Of course, today’s Snow Day is tomorrow’s Makeup Day.

And is it me, or do we seem to have a lot more Snow Days with every passing year?

Since the calendar turned to 2010, many area schools only started going back to school on Wednesday. Most went on Jan. 4, then were shuttered the rest of the week. Some returned on Monday, only to be off again Tuesday.

That hit-and-miss attendance has to be difficult on the learning process, as I’m sure any teacher would attest.

I went to public school in Ashland in the 1960s and 1970s, graduating in 1975. Those were the days before Ashland picked up students on buses. Therefore, when it snowed, we had school.

I’m not being critical of why school has been canceled because of the weather. I couldn’t drive one of those big buses on a perfectly dry road, let alone one covered with ice and snow. And in some of our more rural areas, the sun may never hit the road enough to melt the ice and snow. Cancelling school is often the only option because putting a child’s health at risk is not worth it.

My daughter, who is a teacher for Bellevue High School in northern Kentucky, is learning a Snow Day here doesn’t mean a Snow Day there. They hardly ever miss.

Of course, Bellevue doesn’t have buses. The school district is exactly one square mile, which means the farthest anybody has to come to school is a one-mile walk or drive. So, if they get an hour delay, it’s a cause for celebration.

Not so here, when sometimes it seems the threat of snow cancels school and games.

But there is a big difference in the terrain of northern Kentucky and eastern Kentucky. I’m sure it’s even much more difficult for our friends up the Big Sandy way when it comes to manuvering buses around in the snow.

I’m writing this more as an observation and outloud thinking of what happens on a Snow Day instead of a critique on why we have so many Snow Days. But cancelled school days can create chaos.

When my children were out of school, so was my wife since she was a teacher. So we didn’t have the problem that I’m sure a lot of parents do when there’s a Snow Day. What do you do with the kids on a Snow Day?

For one, there are a lot of one-parent households and that one parent has to go to work to pay the bills.

Schools may get Snow Days, but businesses do not. You’re expected to be at work, even if your child isn’t going to school because of a Snow Day.

My guess is that many children are left home alone, especially those deemed old enough to “take care of themselves.” Unless there are grandparents who aren’t working or other family members around, there’s not many other options.

For a lot of the children in the area, not going to school may mean not getting a hot meal that day as our local schools provide both breakfast and lunch.

So a Snow Day can also mean a Chaotic Day for some.

I’m sure school administrators and athletic directors — and parents, too — hope the rest of January and February brings a little warmer weather and a lot less snow. I’m with them on that wish.

For one thing, who wants to be going to school in the middle of June?

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.