Summer Camp and Working Parents
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Today’s topic will be relevant for many readers (even if you wish it weren’t!), and it’s one that has probably been foremost in your minds for the last few months: the tricky combination of summer camp and working parents. Last month, Kat and I read a Washington Post article called “Summer is a Logistical and Financial Puzzle That’s Driving Parents Crazy,” and it touched a nerve. (Yep, that headline sounds pretty accurate to me!)
{related: download the Excel sheet Kat uses to schedule summer activities for her kids (2021 edition!)}
The writer, Amy Joyce, who is editor of the newspaper’s On Parenting section (I highly recommend signing up for their mailing list!) summarized the challenges that summer brings for working moms and dads, including the high cost of camp, inconvenient/inadequate camp hours (before care and after care, anyone?), and complicated family routines as compared to the more reliable nature of the school year. (Oh, school bus, I miss you dearly!)
Here’s a short excerpt from the article:
Summertime is often thought of as a lazy, relaxing break from the rush-rush of school days. No more waking up early! No more packing lunches! Beautiful days wide open for kids and parents to hang out and — oh right. That just isn’t the case. […] Most parents work, so life is still centered on getting child care and getting everyone out the door, even from June through August.
Camps typically end earlier than school does — not very convenient for parents who work until 5 or 6 or in varying shifts. And camps are different week to week, so the locations and rules and times change with each one.
In the past, we’ve talked about how to find school break camps and changing your work schedule for summer — and today we thought we’d discuss this “logistical and financial puzzle” of summer camp and working parents. Is summer typically tough for you as a working mom? How do you balance work and parenting differently during the summer months? Do you wish that the school year were longer?
Planning and registering for summer camps is always anxiety-provoking for me (and I only have one kid!), so I try to be really organized about it, and I also aim to get it done as soon as possible.
I typically start thinking about summer camp in February (and I register for February break camp in December, and April break camp in January or February), although I can’t register for most camps in my area that early. My son’s favorite camps, which are offered by the local science museum (shoutout to the RMSC), open their registration very early and are extremely popular, so I take care of those as soon as possible.
This year, I channeled my anxiety into making a big list of 20+ promising local camps, with details for some of the offerings regarding the daily hours provided, registration opening dates, etc. I registered my son at four different places, and (fingers crossed!), the summer is going pretty well so far. It was actually five, but the sole sports-related one canceled a week-long camp with only one week’s notice. That phone call was a nice surprise! (Luckily, I found a last-minute option.)
Readers, how do you tackle the issue of summer camp and working parents? What do camps cost where you live, and do you use dependent care FSA funds? Do you sign up for pricier camps or keep a tight budget by choosing more “basic” offerings?
If you have young children, do you hire a babysitter or nanny instead? If your kids are in daycare, does your center have special summer programs? Do you choose camps yourself or allow your kids some input — and how many places do your kids go in a single summer?
Oh, man, this is my life. We mostly do YMCA summer day camps (hours are 7 – 6, yay!), but sprinkle in a couple weeks of more expensive but special weeks of other camps. This week is “ninja camp” at the martial arts gym, which the kids are stoked about, but it’s 9-1, and it’s a logistical nightmare. I have 2 babysitters, a friend, and one half vacation day to make it work.
We have a highly regarded camp that is . . . M-TH, 9-3. WHY? They must not want us to come.
Our church also does that for vacation bible school (it is a very woke church otherwise).
My youngest child’s daycare has a summer program for school-age students, and I am so so so grateful that it exists. Without it, our summer would be a logistical nightmare. DS did a one-week day camp catered to a special interest of his, and it was tough to make it work. DH and I both used a lot of vacation time that week just getting him to and from camp. I will never understand the “day camps” that go from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. That is not helpful!
Our year-round school calendar actually makes this pretty easy. We’re off for just four weeks in the summer, so it’s usually a week of vacation + 3 weeks of camp and then back to school. We have to find camp during each trackout period (3 weeks each) but since the schedule is so common, there are many camps and I have not found one that doesn’t offer after care until at least 5:30. So, in short, if you want to eliminate your summer vacation headaches you should move to Wake County, NC!
Summer and school schedule logistics are one of the biggest reasons I left my job to start my own business (attorney, solo firm in a very specialized area) so that I could have more flexible hours. Our 5 year old attends a wonderful summer camp program at a private school that is 8am to 3pm each day. I can pick her up at 3pm most days and my spouse or a babysitter covers the days where I can’t do pick up. I try to keep my schedule lighter and take on fewer clients in the summer, but I use Paw Patrol to distract if I have to do an afternoon conference call. Next year we will probably do some special camps as the options seem to open up at age 6, and there are more after-care options at the camp we already use as the children get older.
Someone posted a few weeks back that they thought the school schedule is so much harder than daycare and that many women leave their jobs after their kids hit kindergarten. I agree. We started at a pre-K program connected to a private school at age 3, so we were on the school schedule early. I found it impossible to manage my job and all the holidays and the fall, winter, spring, and summer breaks, plus all the sick days that my child has (which is more than normal due to a medical condition).
I don’t know why childcare is so hard, but it has definitely decelerated my career. I am OK with it most days, but I rage at the system on other days.
This is the first year that my kids are doing camp. After hearing from so many about what a logistical challenge it is, I’m surprised that it has been easy and not at all as complicated as I had thought. What has helped us:
1. Both kids go to the same camp. I don’t have the time to manage two different drop offs every day.
2. We immediately ruled out camps that don’t offer extended care.
3. Only considered camps within a 2-3 mile radius.
Our kids spent 3 weeks at an awesome makers camp, they are now in a traditional day camp where they swim several times a week, and then they will be going to an outdoor adventure camp for a week in August. Then 1 week of family vacation, then grandma babysits for a few days, then the start of school.
Only downer is how expensive this all is. We are in the Bay Area and camp tuition for 2 kids ends up being $1000-$1200 a week, roughly.
So this is a first world problem because it’s our problem by choice but we have a baby right now, 3 yo and 4 yo and a full time nanny. Lots of oldest child’s friends are doing day camps (like 9-12ish) so I’ve signed her up for a couple. She’s also very shy and I think the exposure to new people has been good. But summer is turning out to be so expensive! We’re already paying our nanny for coverage so it feels a little silly to pay for these short day camps too – although we don’t have to worry about scrambling for rides so maybe it’s a good thing. Younger brother is just feeling left out. I’m ready for our regular preschool to start up again in the fall!
Local universities can be a source of camps that are enriching and mostly full day. Ours has a variety of summer camps that are mostly 8:30-5, with some that have before/after care.
I’m in a similar situation to Legally Brunette, but in a very different area! Mine are 4 and 6 and I also was firm that they had to go to the same camp each week. Most of the camps around here cater to SAHMs and have hours of 9-12 or 12:30-3:30, so not helpful! I found a great day camp at the local JCC that offers a full-day with before and after care and the kids have been loving it. We also sprinkled in a few camps for variety at local private schools, but those end at 3:30 pm and my mom has been doing pickup those weeks which has been so helpful. None of the camps are cheap, but we are in a LCOL area so I think we paying a total of $5500 for summer camps for two kids and I am using my our FSA funds for that.
Also my first summer dealing with camps and yes, I agree heartedly that I miss the ease of the school year. While I think my child has had fun and gotten some really exciting new experiences, the lack of stability is really trying and tiring. For instance this week, she’s at a camp that starts at 7:30. It’s a bus pick up, so we have to be there then. Last week, she was at a different camp that did regular registration starting at 9. The swing of an hour and a half is disrupting the entire house. Not to mention the lack of consistency in my child’s own schedule. School cannot start soon enough.
I have a college age nanny. I have 3- rising 3rd grade, Kinder, and one in preschool. I can’t imagine trying to manage camps.
A nanny works well for us for a lot of reasons. I like a more relaxed pace in summer. We have a big yard and the kids can get lots of outside time with little effort. I like that my kids get to do sibling activities together. I work from home a few days each week and was around to onboard the nanny at the beginning of the summer. The kids go to the park, library, swimming & piano lessons, etc. The older kids have a daily chore. Our daycare is Montessori and follows a school schedule, so summer care there is not required to keep a spot.
Kiddo is 3, so I have a few years before this starts. I’m hoping for a mix of (driving) nanny/babysitter, fun camps, and using my flexibility. Our back-up convenient option is the local YMCA summer camp/care. Kiddo’s daycare has a summer program for school age kids, but even though I love them for young kids, that option doesn’t thrill me. It’ll depend a lot on what kiddo’s friends and neighborhood playmates do.
My older son is 4 and in a preschool that’s on an academic calendar. Mostly this works because my spouse is a teacher. BUT this year preschool ended a week before public schools in the area or my spouse’s school! (He has to work a week after classes are over, but this was an additional week.) and because public schools were not over yet, there were *zero* camps in the entire city. Luckily we had grandparents willing to babysit so we didn’t have to scramble, but I’m still scratching my head as to why close before all other schools on the city and county??! Even with a teacher spouse though, we still rely on grandparents 2-3 weeks out of the summer plus two weeks if family vacations.
This was our first summer of camp, and it actually hasn’t been as bad as I was afraid it would be. After making a glorious spreadsheet compiling many options, we ended up prioritizing cost and convenience and sticking with the summer camp affiliated with school aftercare and YMCA camps (swim, soccer and flag football). YMCA is particularly great because my younger kids are in daycare there, so my life easier than during the school year because one drop off! hooray! Both options are <$350 including extended care until 6:30.
The other camps we considered had convenient bus stops, but afternoon drop off was typically 4:45, which is early for us (especially planning for unpredictable DC area traffic), and they were more expensive. We did send my son to overnight camp for a couple nights the week of 4th of July, but otherwise it's not a super exciting summer. He's happy with it; both camps attract a lot of kids from his elementary school and former preschool, so he has familiar friends.
Thank God for the YMCA. I’ve heard horror stories about finding affordable/accessible camps in other cities, but the Y has made our summers pretty easy. This is the 3rd summer my kiddo (now almost 9) has gone there. It’s not 100% perfect; but he plays hard, it’s affordable, the location is convenient, and the hours are good (can drop off starting at 7, pick up by 6). So it’s 95% perfect. Our Y location typically doesn’t have as many cool offerings as the more established Y branches (ahem, in the richer parts of town), but even our branch has some specialty camps, so he’s doing a week of STEM and a week of cooking, with the rest traditional day camp. Add a week of Cub Scout camp and a week of “invention camp”* and he’s having a pretty good summer. I wish I got to go with him to some of these!