Where to celebrate the official beginning of summer:

        Not only is Monday Memorial Day, but school gets out on Friday for many students. The last day of school must be celebrated with ice cream. Sure, we eat ice cream throughout the school year but the first cone of the first day of summer vacation is the best of all.

        What you treat your student to probably ought to be linked to performance:

        Let's say your kid got straight A's (or all “excellents,” triangles, teddy bear stickers or whatever they come up with at her school) and was described as “an asset to the class” on every report card.

        Take her to Graeter's, and let her get a banana split. Or, for a more chocolate experience, Graeter's has a new brownie sundae: Graeter-made brownie, vanilla ice cream, bittersweet sauce and whipped cream. You will also notice that Graeter's now has waffle cones.

        Or — if you're up north — go to Ben & Jerry's in Symmes Township, and allow two dips. The latest flavor is called One Sweet Whirled. It's a partnership with the Dave Matthews Band (who, as your older kid will probably know, has a song called “One Sweet World”) and some of the proceeds go to environmental groups.

        It's caramel and coffee ice cream swirled, along with caramel and marshmallow swirls, with fudge chips. Other new flavors at Ben & Jerry's are chocolate-peanut butter truffle, chocolate with fudge almonds and Southern peach.

        B Average: Children do not have good taste when it comes to ice cream. In general, the more unnecessary extras, the better. That's why they love mix-in ice cream places like Coldstone Creamery and Maggie Moo's. (As an adult, I find them rather silly.)

        You order a flavor and as many little treats as you want, from coconut to M&M's to gummi bears, which are then hand-mixed in. You can get your cone embellished with chocolate and nuts. There are three Maggie Moo's in the area: Rookwood Commons in Norwood, Glenway Crossing in Westwood and Harper's Corner in Symmes Township.

        Coldstone Creamery, at Newport on the Levee, has the edge here, with more naturally-colored and flavored ice cream.

        C Student: OK, it's not a great grade, but a kid who's showed up every day and done homework most of the time still deserves to celebrate the beginning of summer. The really good chocolate chips are Graeter's, of course, but United Dairy Farmers has some respectable ones in its Signature Chip flavors. Unfortunately, they're discontinuing my favorite, the orange-chocolate giant chip (there's still raspberry chocolate, chocolate-chocolate and vanilla chocolate). Its newest flavor is coconut-almond chip, a very nice combination.

        D's and F's: Your call. Compassion suggests at least some chocolate frozen yogurt in a cake cone, though you may feel the situation calls for something like half a scoop from the bottom of the vanilla ice-milk container that got melted and re-frozen.

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