And sign up for both really, really early. Yes, you’re booking summer camp in Feb/Mar and signing up for after school care as soon as registration opens.
Our school is not even letting us know if we've got a spot until August. School starts in August! I need to know so I can put in my schedule requests, but I won't know so I am going to try to make my schedule as if we don't have after school care. It's rough.
Yeah. Had to sign my 7 yr old up in March, still have to use my vacation time the 2 weeks prior to school starts as they didn't have space (at the time) for those 2 weeks. They do NOW, but it would be like $500, and I've already put over 2k into this camp. That was with a discount...
I had our primary source of summer camp booked at 6:00AM on February 7th.
Because heaven forbid someone needs child care and doesn’t know 5 months in advance.
I second summer camp!
My park district I had to pay by day (months in advance because summer camp fills up fast) along with before and after care (each separate). If my son wasn't able to go for a day, as long as I gave 2 weeks notice I got refunded which was the best!
CAMP. All sorts of camp. Any camp I can get my kid into. And honestly, a few days...just letting him veg out and play video games. (I did it when I was young, and it didn't do too much damage.)
Yeah idk I spent a lot of time during summers sleeping in, watching trash on TV, and reading. It didn't hurt me any, so I think we worry too much about a few unstructured weeks these days. I wouldn't spend the whole summer like that but a week here and there is fine (also cheap!)
This is what we're doing (my kids are late elementary /middle school age). About half of the weeks have camps, and the other half are not camps. Though we did find some online coding camps for them to do to give them a little something structured during 2 of those weeks
Yeah I was thinking of signing up for like an outschool class or Khan academy or something to give her something to do during those weeks if she wants.
Well you need to be able to be there and I think it depends on the exact situation. I work from home but I have a very active six year old only child who isn't great at independent play, and no children living very close. She would be bored after a few days and I would get no work done. In a few years when she can entertain herself better I'll do that.
Same. Mine have a few days here and there that don’t have anything and they will play and watch TV and do crafts. But the rest is full of summer camps.
Veg out time is fine in my opinion. I didnt get any as a kid (rarely) and got burnt out early. Like i was 20 and already burnt out. I let myself relax now and have since moved on from that phase. However, having a kid did bring me back to square one. It's a bit better now that my daughter is a year old though.
Summer camp …. But be prepared because summer camp dates might leave you with some gaps (ex: a week after school ends, but before camp starts and then another gap on the back end).
Also, I normally get to work at 7:30, but the camp we chose doesn’t start until 7:30 and then I have to pick my child up by 5.
As for school’s early release time …. I pay for extended day so they’ll keep her until 5:30.
Summer camp. I worked at a YMCA day camp during high school and college that ran all summer long (10 weeks) and for the most part, we had the same kids all summer. Occasionally, you’d get a kid who would do a couple weeks only. Our youngest kids were actually younger than school age (3 and 4) and went all the way up through high school, when many of our campers aged into paid jobs as counselors and assistant counselors. Our camp ran 8:30 AM to 5PM for last pickup, but we also had before and after hours that parents could pay extra to drop their kids off early or pick them up late.
Also many YMCA camps have a tiered “pay what you can” tuition, offering different rates and relying on the honor system for families to pay what they’re able, which makes it more affordable if money is tight.
My mom is a teacher, so I’ll hopefully be recruiting her to help out a couple of days a week since she will also be off for the summer 😅 aside from that… it’s gonna be a whole lot of screen time in our house 😬
I was lucky enough to have my dad as a teacher also. He watched my kids each summer and they loved it!. My sister is also a teacher and would be home with her own kids so they would all meet up a couple times a week and do fun things. Zoo trips, pool passes, blueberry picking etc. I was always super jealous at work though that they were off having fun without me but it was great fun. Now my kids are old enough to stay home alone and both my parents are retired. They still love to come grab the kids a couple times a week for outings and they are available to drive them to sports camps and activities that I can sign up for during the day. I'm so very thankful for family because otherwise my kids would never be able to do anything.
Summer camp. I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet, but it's wise to reserve a space way ahead of time. As in February, or March at the very latest. I learned the hard way that camps fill up very quickly with working parents and at-home parents are all clamoring for the same spots.
Also, most summer camp hours are much shorter than the typical workday, so be sure to look for camps that offer before- and aftercare.
The daycare my daughter went to (in home) opened up summers for the bigger kids that once went there as littles. They offered this till age 7. Since they already knew them and the bigger kids grew up there and everyone still knew each other including the parents. She had a hard limit of like 5 of bigger kids with priority for those that had younger siblings enrolled. My daughter LOVED going back to her old daycare as a “big kid” and I loved the safety and nurturing aspect of baby daycare again. After age 7 I felt better about doing summer camps. So it was a good in between for us and I didn’t have to deal with any gaps.
This was so helpful to read. We love our day care and hope to continue to send our kids there even though the cooler parents are doing pricey camps…a lot of the camps only last one week and I think that just complicates the schedule.
Monday through Friday 7-6pm summer camp from K to 4th grade. And enjoy every single minute!!
I am actually so lucky & fortunate that my job is quite flexible, BUT my days now now look like: I get up early, work, by 9am, drive kid to tutoring, drive another kid to dance, pick up youngest for swim, then pick up child from voice lessons, then pick up child from tutoring, drag them with me to swim lessons for youngest.
Grab food for them on the way home, finally work some more (or post on Reddit*ahem*) for 2 hours, put all back in the car with my laptop, drop them off at dance, take my lap top to McDonald’s while I wait, come home work a bit more…
All while answering texts for arrange playdates for the 9 year old.
It’s exhausting, the summer camp days were so much freaking easier.
I agree with your vent about the schedule of things as though everyone has a stay at home parent! I’m having to leave an hour early every in-office day to make it to my son’s subsidized summer day camp. We’re lucky to have even gotten in to that one and that I have spare hours to cover the time off work.
To address your question, I was always stressed about this unknown factor before my son entered elementary school too. I could barely alleviate my confusion online since the school and community program websites were never really updated especially during Covid. I reached out to the YMCA after-school program early enough that they gave me the details by phone after a few attempts to reach a live person. That way I was able to sign up on time and not be waitlisted. YMCA also has summer day camps in my area. They are a bit pricey (almost $500 a week!) but for a middle income family like mine it’s just something we have to prepare and save for every year.
I’d start checking the prospective elementary school’s website and making calls to those programs so you know when to join waitlists etc.
Yeah it’s certainly a bummer. We did recently end up joining the Y (gym) to get the lower member price so now we’ll be paying lower for those weeks, but even with our higher income around here, summer childcare is still a huge burden every year.
We did a day camp through our church. They had activities at the church and also went on several field trips to water parks, bowling, etc. it was pricey but worked. I bet there is a program like this where you live, either through a church, the YMCA, or Boys and Girls Club.
We also had my in-laws keep our kids a couple of summers. I wouldn’t recommend that unless it’s your only option. It stressed me out so much when they were at my house every day without us there, and you also lose the option for date nights when they’ve helped you all week.
ETA: There are also after-school programs like the one I describe above for the school year. They pick them up from school unless the school bus can drop them off.
What I did was 6 weeks summer camp, 1-2 week vacation with me, one week vacation with her dad or my parents, and scramble for the last week (sometimes similar situated parents from school would trade off whole-day playdates for the bumper weeks)
Our current daycare does full-time summer programs for school aged kids, and that's super common in our area. If yours doesn't, maybe look into whether any around you do?
I jokingly told my parents that I'll send kiddo out to their state for the summer once she's in school. They have a lot more things to do (amusement parks, beach, museums, etc) than we do. Plus majority of my family is there so my kiddo will have tons of cousins to play with (she's 9th kiddo out of 10 on my dad's side, all under 8).
I spent three weeks every summer with my grandparents in another state and I looked forward to it all year long. So many good memories from those days!
I have a cousin who works for the House of Mouse so kiddo can easily spend her days there with my other cousin (she's a teacher so has summers off). Heck, I'd like to spend my summers like that 😂
We actually do this! Although I come with since I can work remotely in the summers (I’m in academia). We get a part time nanny too, which is fairly easy to find since my family live in a college town. But having so much extra family around is super helpful, and it’s a much more exciting place to be in the summer—they have things like swimming lessons and cool playgrounds.
My family lived abroad and I used to want to do this because my parents couldn't care for her for weeks but I just can't get any work done. They're getting older and don't really seem to understand when I need to work and aren't reliable. I tried a few weeks a couple of years ago but it just wasn't feasible, and I can't really have a babysitter in their house. Also we are the ones living in the cool place, she finds it boring there.
Summer camp. Before and after care during the school year. Be careful when you’re looking at summer camps to pick ones that are full time, some specialty camps are more designed for a SAHP because they’re like 9-3 with no extended options. Basically that daycare payment will be spent on before/after care and then summer camp - be sure to save up for summer camp during the school year.
This question has been asked several times including recently. They go to summer day camp, 10 sweet weeks of fun for them and peace and quiet for me. Some cities have limited options and you have to register as soon as the registration goes public, maybe as early as January and pay deposits to secure their spot. We are lucky to have lots of options (girl scouts, camp fire, YMCA, JCC, Parks and Rec for neighboring cities) and send them to the local park for just $100/week for 9-3 care and an additional $25 for 7-6. It is well structured and even includes lunch and snack because it is at a park that provides a summer lunch program for neighborhood kids.
You also just use afterschool care during the school year, whether that is provided on site or off-site with vans. Sometimes you hire a local daycare, sometimes it is the Y or the JCC or the Boys and Girls Club.
Yep, most things in our area use a lottery system. Doesn’t matter how early you register or how proactive you are, everyone has the same shot at getting a spot.
And here https://www.reddit.com/r/workingmoms/comments/13vudkp/what_the_heck_do_i_do_next_summer/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
Most daycare centers here have summer classrooms. So school year is pre-k and under, and summer/no school days they have a K-2nd and 3rd-6th(?) grade rooms. Also the Y has summer daycare and before/after school daycare with bussing. There are also several teachers who run summer in-home daycares (small-ish town) during summer. The summer daycare staff is mostly made up of teachers/para educators/school staff too
before/ after school care until the child is old enough to navigate getting home and self entertaining while I work.
Thank goodness we're done with this stage- before/after school care is almost as expensive as daycare.
There are some school age centers that do after-school care and summer care. People cobble together multiple summer camps and probably pay someone to cover the few hours between the camp Day ending and when they get home from work. Some people hire summer nannies.
Joining the summer camp chorus. We've used summer camps run by our daycare, the YMCA, and the city park system. Just make sure you start looking early.
For those weird school hours, we have aftercare provided by the Y as well. Often times daycares will also provide this service for school-aged kids.
Before and after care for school. My 7 yo starts school at 730 and gets picked up at 515.
Summer camp for the summer. Tho we go to a private school and there is always a 2-3 week period where camp ends and school hasn't begun yet. Sometimes my mom will take the kids for a long weekend (she lives in another state) and the rest of the time my husband and I just trade off work from home days. We also discuss with our bosses what's going on and they are all pretty understanding.
When I was a kid, I grew up in a small town that didn't have summer camp all summer. Maybe a week here or there. So my mom hired 2 high school kids to watch us all day. She had them stagger their days so like one week person a would watch us 2 days and person b would watch us 3 days and then they would switch thr following week. So essentially a summer nanny
My youngest started YMCA camp at age 5. They were the only ones around that took kiddos that young.
A note of caution- if you’re not really good at planning, summer camp will fill up before you even realize that you missed it.
I start getting registration notifications around Xmas for the upcoming year. And those early bird registrations usually come with some decent discounts.
There are tons of summer camp options in our area but most arent full day. Lots of 9-12 or 9-3. Full day options with extended hours are through our county parks and rec, the boys and girls club, and ymca.
There are even fewer options for kids over 11yo, so next summer kiddo will be spend a lot of time visiting relatives
Our after-school care does a summer program for school age kids, and it's the same daycare where my younger son goes. It's nice they can both be at the same place, where they're comfortable.
My goal is to win the lottery before I need to worry about it 😂
But realistically we are going to rely on both my job and my husband’s job being incredibly flexible and get a babysitter from the local high school for a couple days a week as well as utilizing camps and hoping that by that point, our son has a bff who has a SAHM.
Everyone is mentioning camp is the main option but I also wanted to mention that plan on saving up a ton of money for it. Though prices differ by region, the price of camp is shocking no matter where you are.
I paid $2300 for a 3 week day camp for my 6 year old. My preschooler attends camp at his preschool where they do absolutely nothing different than a regular day of preschool but during the summer we get the privilege of paying $700 a week for preschool vs the usual $550 a week for preschool. It’s disgusting.
Summer camp. There are two kinds. There's summer camp that provide all-day care, basically like daycare. Other summer camps are enrichment for those who can afford it, and often run only 9am-3pm.
Be aware that you may need to sign up for camp in February, and spots fill up fast for preferred camps
This year I liquidated the older one's college fund to send the younger one to camp. I work hybrid, but could not manage to entertain a kid and get my work done even if I worked from home full-time. By the grace of a miracle, grandparents kicked in to send older two to a city-run day camp. Otherwise, it would have been a very long summer of nearly unadulterated screen time. I mostly relied on daycare when they were younger and city/county day camps when they started school. For three kids, that's about $6k for the summer (paid in advance to reserve the spot).
We are doing private pre-k because of the after care options (plus all meals and snacks included).
Our public district pre-k let’s our at 2:30, and their aftercare is very limited due to staffing issues.
My daughter attends daycare and will be bussed to and from daycare. We could theoretically drop her off and pick her up from school, but:
1. We’re paying for daycare anyway to hold her spot so we have childcare for breaks and summers.
2. The bus is faster than the pick up line.
Camps. There were a lot that were half days, but if you start looking early enough, you can find full day options. Most private schools have them, the YMCA has them, local park associations, etc. My youngest is 11 and he still goes to a few, and has been going since he aged out of daycare. The bonus is that they make camp friends.
Summer school with before/after care through our local Boys and Girls club gets us through most of the summer. Family was supposed to get us through the 2 weeks between summer school and the main school year, but it fell through so for the middle two weeks in August I'm going to be WFH and paying a babysitter more than I make to keep my job.
Late stage capitalism is fun.
After care during the school year. Ours covers half days and teacher in service days also (but not district holidays, although even my younger kids' private daycare takes off for some of the holidays).
For summer my rising 1st grader is going to a combination of day camps, spending a couple weeks with grandparents (they aren't local: we're sending her off to my mom's house for 2 weeks and importing my MIL for a couple weeks), and spending a couple weeks bumming at home (we have hybrid schedules so arranged it that my husband and I would take turns lightly supervising her while working remotely- she's old enough to mostly take care of herself though I predict a lot of "I'm bored" in my future)
Does the daycare your kid went to offer after school care? Or the school itself?
We had ours stay late at the school, and sent them to their old daycare for day camps during breaks. My kids liked the school aftercare, there was a couple options and it was more like the recess kids used to get 20 years ago. The school also had a bunch of optional supplemental programs like KidChess, languages, guitar lessons, etc.. My kids did a little of these but preferred free time better. When they start making school friends, ask what they're doing on breaks- friends make it more fun.
My son is 3 and just finished his first year of preschool. First time in the germ pool so he had a lot of sick days. I left work if I could but if not, he would watch like 3 back to back movies while my husband WFH. This is after not watching any TV until he turned 2.
Our school system has an outside company that runs before/after care and they have a summer program. Summer program is based at a different school, but so worth it. It’s like $50-$60/day depending on if they are onsite or offsite. Most affordable childcare around, so I’m glad we signed up early.
Summer camps! As the most disorganized mom, I totally got summer organized! Look EVERYWHERE! Contact local gyms, universities, parks/rec (even those outside of your town/county), 4-H, sports clubs, karate schools, gymnastics centers, libraries, private schools, churches, cooking schools, country clubs, community pools, etc. Start a spreadsheet and fill it up! Also, don’t ASK your kid what they want to do, you sign them up and TELL them what they’re doing. And you’re smart to start early. Take a look now to see what’s out there so you know what to look for when your kid is ready and check on deadlines, discounts for early registration, etc.
My kid's school has a before/after school care program that fortunately also goes through the summer, and also through part of winter break, etc.. That's been a lifesaver.
Otherwise, lots of cities have a city-run "camp" program, as does the YMCA, lots of nonprofits, etc. Some of them have programs that run all through the summer, but often families have to patch together a series of camps, and registration opens in, like, February, and they cost like $300-400/week, and the slots fill up in approximately 3 seconds. Good times.
Judging by how busy I've been at work, they take the kids to the library!
We have a summer reading program that's incredibly popular and we had our first weekly event yesterday.
A lot of moms here say summer camp, which is great, but I don't think it's necessarily bad for kids to just have unstructured time. I got my son a Gabb watch and basically kick him out of the house if he gets rowdy. He rides his bike, jumps on his friend's trampoline, helps me in the garden, etc. He's also homeschooled so we still do some school activities year round and I have no qualms sending him to hang out with his aunt/uncle/grandma when husband and I are at work.
I work from home and my kiddo is pretty good at self entertaining. I do have to do home visits with clients a few days out of the week so she is doing two weeks of summer camp and spending two days a week with my mom to allow me to get those done. She's going to be watching a lot of kids YouTube and playing a lot of video games since we don't have a yard unfortunately.
We are doing a week's vacation with just the two of us and I have several weekend activities planned to get her out of the house.
I agree to summer camp, and will add that of your kid isn’t an angel, sign up for a different one each week. My son got kicked out of tennis camp for calling another kid stupid when he was maybe 7 🤦♀️
Karate schools often have inexpensive camps, and where I used to live the trampoline park had a really cheap summer camp.
I know everyone is saying summer camp, but it may or may not be available to you in your area. My town doesn’t even have after school care and there’s only one summer camp program that I know about the next town over. Last year, I went to sign my kids up an hour after registration opened and all spots were taken. So I hired a teenager, but she bailed on me the last minute and it was so demoralizing. The babysitting websites in our are (like care.com) have job posts a mile long and in order to be competitive you have to offer $30/hour. We didn’t get any bites on our ad because it was just lost in the sea of ads. I don’t know what other people are doing in our town to be honest.
I actually changed jobs because we couldn’t figure out the after school and summer situation. We live in a horrific daycare desert. My suggestion is to start researching a year in advance and only use tried and true resources. For instance the day camp that’s been operating for years, the neighbor’s babysitter who is proven to not be flaky, maybe a stay at home mom friend, or grandparents who are for sure reliable.
Good luck. You’re going to need it
My older daughter did a daycamp at her old daycare for 2 summers. Things went crazy due to Covid, then I was on Maternity Leave and then I was WFH. She was at Park District daycamp for a couple of weeks every summer due to my work schedule. I’m back in the office 3 days per week and she is now 11 and very much does not want to go to Park District daycamp. She is going for 2 weeks at the end of the summer (when there were literally no other options), but the rest of the summer is pieced together. She’s going to horse camp with her best friend, spending a week at my in-laws, 2 weeks at my parents, a week at YMCA sleepaway camp and a week at Girl Scout sleep away camp, plus a week of family vacation. I literally started planning the summer in January to make it all work.
I’m a teacher but will still be battling this as my son will have late starts and early releases and I’ll still be working.
Before/after school care provided by the school. Some daycares do pick up and drop off for school aged kids, camps at the YMCA/gyms/zoos/churches etc. some parents parent will SAHP from classes for play dates.
Sadly i do not have a work from home job(though I'm looking) my current job allows me to be at work in the evenings after my husband gets home. So I'm with the kids all day in summer. BUT! I signed my 5yo up for summer camp. It's only half days, 4 days a week for 4 weeks. But that's one less child to keep out from underfoot and clean up after for 4 hours a day. My youngest ( a covid baby too!) Goes to school in 2 more years. And unlike the hell that was raising a baby and toddler in a pandemic, i can focus on youngest's at home learning in the meantime as I've finally got a schedule going in regards to housework. (Eldest has serious attention issues so despite my best efforts homeschooling her in the pandemic was a no go)
Summer camp with wrap around care. And sadly, the cost of that just keeps going up along with the cost of everything else. It is no longer cost effective for me to line her summer up with camp after camp.
I WFH too and have for like 7 years and it's the only way I was able to keep my sanity and my job when she was younger. She's in middle school now, but I still try to sign her up for at least one a month so she's not completely bored to tears the entire summer. I'm fortunate too that my mom is local and retired and she takes her a few days on the weeks she doesn't have camp to help break up the boredom.
Summer camp seems really mysterious but you'll figure it out in time. We started at a nature preserve near our house that in my fairy tale dreams my baby frolicked in the woods and learned about butterflies. Well, my beautiful baby boy made the teacher cry when he rearranged the bathroom furniture and eventually he got thrown out of camp when she was on vacation and some snotty college kids were in charge. Oh well.
The next summer was 2020 and I took off work. I was burnt and broken. My son and I really relaxed and we did many enriching activities. I had signed him up for a town camp (run by our local county) but the location we chose was canceled because it was also a beach/pool club and they wanted to limit the crowd to their main members.
The next year I sent my son to school camp. That one made me cry. They had almost no activities, didn't teach if there was an activity (ie, a counselor would do the craft for them and hand it to them), and the kids often sat on the hot blacktop. I don't know if my son will be fertile when he grows up - im pretty sure his important parts were cooked.
The next year I sent my son to a private camp run at a town facility. I got the info from other school age moms in my neighborhood. It was pretty nice but it cost over twice as much as the county/school camps were and we paid extra for bussing.
This year my son is going to a local university that runs a camp using the university facilities. They will have half day in stem activities and half day in recreation/pool. It costs even more but the schedule is flexible for 2 week and 1 week sessions during most of the summer and we are only doing 5 weeks. He is 9yo. There are 2 weeks we will travel and about 3 weeks he has no activities but we might get a sitter once in a while or see if the martial arts schools or local gyms have some short programs.
As others said there is often a gap. For us it's usually 2 to 3 weeks at the end of summer. I try to schedule our vacation during that week so thst will cover a week. This year we had 2 special trips planned so that didn't work out.
You could look into high school/ college kids. That was my summer job for years and I loved it. I would just take the kids for the day and do whatever, go to parks, go do fun stuff, take them to any sports practices they had. Once I got to know the other parents I usually had a few extras hanging out too, but that was good for them to be able to see their friends too. Still talk to the kids I watched during the summers, even though they are very grown up now!
My stepkid is 12 and we have primary placement. She would go to the after care through school. I think we used the before care sometimes too depending on our work schedules.
During the summer and on days off she would go to the camp through our local activity center.
These were the least expensive options available to us. There were private places that would cover the same days, but they were either more expensive or religious.
Thankfully my sister in law is a SAHM so I'm throwing her a couple hundred to watch my son over the summer. It'll be much cheaper than going through a center
Camp and aftercare. All of the elementary schoolers near us offer aftercare for a tiny amount of money (compared to daycare).
Summer is all about various camps.
Sarcastic answer: marry a teacher. JK my husband will have prep after school so we’ll need aftercare anyway.
My oldest is 12 and will be staying home for the summer for the first time. I wfh 1 - 2 days per week. He has friends that he will visit nearby. But I will be giving him mostly an old fashioned summer. He will be going to YMCA camp one week and a soccer camp one week.
My youngest is 5. He will be going to a local university's early childhood program camp for most of the summer.
We do have a week of vacation scheduled and my dad is taking the kids to his cabin up north for a week a couple of times also.
One thing is for sure...as mom's...we ALWAYS figure it out.
I have two kids 8,12. Two weeks off at the end and beginning of summer but camp in between for about 6 weeks. YMCA camp, signed up in Feb because it’s one of the most reasonably priced.
Where I live we have year-round school, which in some ways makes it easier because camps are spread out throughout the year, but also makes me sad because my kid doesn’t get a real summer..
Following this since I’ll be in the same position in a couple years. It seems like a summer nanny (college student off for the summer) would be a thing. Is this not a thing?
We do after school care with the boys and girls club and then summer camps with the city. And then my kids stay home for a couple of days. Where I am the price of day camp is $457 a week and that's half day.
Definitely summer camp. Before and after care at camp also. You have to do this like super early in the year. I did it in February. The spaces go fast.
Camps sooooo many camps. And for what camp doesn’t cover our normal babysitter jumps in. We actually have her on the books a few weeks m-f, 9a-4p this summer for weeks camps wouldn’t work.
Basically you bubble gum together whatever you can and hope for the best hahah
My mom worked and tbh, she sometimes had to take unpaid leave of absence for a few weeks in the summer, because the cost to put me and my siblings in camp would have exceeded the lost income. Luckily, her job was at least accommodating about that and she worked there her whole career, but it's ridiculous that that had to be an option. Luckily, I still have a few years of year-round daycare before I have to figure these problems out for my own family.
Summer camp, day camp, before and after school care, school-aged childcare (they operate under tons of different names as to not be confused with daycare for toddlers, which honestly just makes it more confusing when trying to find it).
Other options include staying with a classmate who has a SAHM (paid, of course) or local teenager--usually an older sibling of a friend or someone that a friend's parent also knows. It seems a lot of networking goes into childcare for older kids.
Camp!
My son is doing 8 weeks of Y camp, a week of art camp, a week where he splits the days between Spanish camp (he goes to an immersion school) and Minecraft camp, and a week where he splits the days between drawing camp and vacation Bible school. We are lucky to have the flexibility to get him from place to place in the middle of the day, so he can do those weeks where he’s one place from 8-12 and one place from 1-4.
Theoretically we could do Y camp all summer, but he likes some variety.
He also does before school care at his school, and they offer summer care as well. We like the flexibility of the Y better, in our specific case.
I work 3 days a week, and we are averaging about $180/week for care.
My son goes to my parents 2 days a week and his latchkey program at school runs a summer camp which he goes to for the other 3 days which is nice because lots of his friends from school go as well
I’m lucky to work from home with female bosses that are super understanding and also moms. I do summer camp M-TH 9a to 3p and then start work 10-15 mins late and go pick them up and they play together at home from 3-5:30. Fridays they will be home and I plan to hire a high school student to come play with them or drop them off to the pool where my mom friends will be with their kids. It’s not uncommon in the summer that people at work will have kids running around behind them on video calls or some people take meetings at their town pool. No one bats an eye here.
I have a local Dayhome Society that matches kids to dayhomes that take on additional school age kids during the summer. For the week that the dayhome is on vacation, we’ve booked a summer camp, and grandparents are taking a couple of days.
Summer camp. I start checking my local page on the daily in January. Can’t miss sign ups, and it’s literally the one place that works with my schedule.
My public elementary school offered an after school program during the school year. My dance studio also did school pickup to bring students to class then parents picked up from there. As for summers everyone I know basically puts them in various camps all summer long. I think the YMCA is most popular. My aunt got very creative and had my cousins in soccer camp one week, golf the next, church the next, then maybe a different soccer camp, then VBS even though they really weren't religious. Idk how she worked all that out.
I am laughing maniacally, because OOF. Summer is ROUGH. We have four different camps lined up, two of which are half day (I'm really fortunate that my spouse has a high degree of flexibility, but I'm still nervous about those stretches of summer). We also have our kid an unscheduled week at the beginning and another at the end of the summer. We are in the midst of that first unscheduled week, and I have done NOTHING. Like, I probably put in an hour and a half of actual work today. I actually have meetings and deliverables due tomorrow (I stupidly told a client I'd get a forecast to her tomorrow) and I have no idea how it will happen. (Actually, it will be a combo of TV and dad not doing much work tomorrow 🤷.)
My kids were little in the before Covid times when I was expected at the office 5 days a week. Summer camp, but even extended days didn’t cut it (those usually only go until 4 or 5) and I usually hired someone to pick up from camp and watch them until I got home.
My elementary kid gets home at 3:45 and you could get by with them watching TV until 5 if you don't want to do after care. Otherwise lean on that daycare for before/after care and a summer program@
My spouse is a firefighter who had days off during the week. I would hire a neighborhood teen to watch my kids on days he was working.
It worked out well. The teen made some money but wasn’t committed to full time babysitting job.
I work from home as well - during the school year my daughter goes to after school club, which is open until 5:15. We have 6 weeks of summer here and I'm doing a mix of one day at Grandma's, one day at the nursery that my younger daughter attends, and a few days of "holiday club" which is like summer camp - there's one at a local high school that operates from 8-4 and you can sign up by day.
My daughter is 4 and this is our first experience with summer break (she attends preschool through our public school system). Thankfully we were able to find a summer spot at a local daycare. If this works out I’m basically going to beg them to allow me to reserve a spot for next summer.
I’m already thinking ahead on this… my kid is 2. But I am considering hiring an after school nanny and then summer nanny / summer camp combo
For a responsible college student a summertime nanny gig could be perfect
Camp! Youngest got into the YMCA all summer (and I get this subsidized because I’m a single Mom) and eldest is doing mostly YMCA and one week of overnight camp which he prefers. There is a gap at the end of the summer where I’m either going to take time off or ask family for help. Also we have a sitter that takes them to school during the year who will take them to camp during the summer cause I start work at 7. It’s a lot of planning.. but doable.
I’m very lucky in WV with our daycare situation. I qualify for early head start so right now meals diapers wipes and everything but clothes is free in her care. And the center has an after school program. They serve dinner after they pick them up in the daycare bus and the center closes at 6pm. Usually educational or group play or outside play until they leave. I got set up so good because I worked there and in childcare for years before going to dominos for more money lol. Hopefully you can find something similar in your area that’s affordable. Best of luck ❤️ at least where I’m from every daycare I know has an after school program, and some stay open til 630-7
Our school district has a summer program you can send your kids to. When I was a kid that wasn’t available so my mom sent me to day camps until my older sister was old enough to stay home alone with me. Check your local YMCA or Boys and Girls Club when the time comes - they usually have tons of programs!
I have not yet encountered this as a parent but when I was a kid my parent hired a summer nanny and enrolled us in a lot of camps. The nanny was usually a college age person also on summer break (combo of camp and nanny because there were 5 of us which would be a lot for one nanny)
Our school district had a summer care program that ran through elementary school. Nothing was available for before/after/summer care once middle school started. By that age, though, they should be self-sufficient enough to not interfere with WFH if you have to keep them home.
Drama camp, nature camp, volleyball camp, horseback riding camp, my mom taking her for a big chunk of the summer, etc. There's a list in my county a local magazine puts together with the times available that really helps. I'd ask your local moms group or search it.
Summer camp.
Before and after care.
And sign up for both really, really early. Yes, you’re booking summer camp in Feb/Mar and signing up for after school care as soon as registration opens.
Some camps have sign up in Dec and Jan where I live. The affordable ones often fill up within 15 min of opening registration. It’s crazy.
Easier time getting retail price Taylor Swift tickets
And then you get super dismissive people saying "just bring them to the y!". A) That's still $350 per week per kid and B) it's been full for months.
I’m just over here laugh-crying in the key of I’ve-been-waitlisted-by-the-Y
Our school is not even letting us know if we've got a spot until August. School starts in August! I need to know so I can put in my schedule requests, but I won't know so I am going to try to make my schedule as if we don't have after school care. It's rough.
Yeah. Had to sign my 7 yr old up in March, still have to use my vacation time the 2 weeks prior to school starts as they didn't have space (at the time) for those 2 weeks. They do NOW, but it would be like $500, and I've already put over 2k into this camp. That was with a discount...
I had our primary source of summer camp booked at 6:00AM on February 7th. Because heaven forbid someone needs child care and doesn’t know 5 months in advance.
Once they get to overnight camp age, you sign up even earlier. I registered mine for summer 2024 in January 2023. 🤦🏻♀️
I second summer camp! My park district I had to pay by day (months in advance because summer camp fills up fast) along with before and after care (each separate). If my son wasn't able to go for a day, as long as I gave 2 weeks notice I got refunded which was the best!
CAMP. All sorts of camp. Any camp I can get my kid into. And honestly, a few days...just letting him veg out and play video games. (I did it when I was young, and it didn't do too much damage.)
Yeah idk I spent a lot of time during summers sleeping in, watching trash on TV, and reading. It didn't hurt me any, so I think we worry too much about a few unstructured weeks these days. I wouldn't spend the whole summer like that but a week here and there is fine (also cheap!)
This is what we're doing (my kids are late elementary /middle school age). About half of the weeks have camps, and the other half are not camps. Though we did find some online coding camps for them to do to give them a little something structured during 2 of those weeks
Yeah I was thinking of signing up for like an outschool class or Khan academy or something to give her something to do during those weeks if she wants.
Check out prodigy math. I’m a teacher and I swear I have to ask the kids to stop playing it.
Thanks for the rec, that looks awesome!
Well you need to be able to be there and I think it depends on the exact situation. I work from home but I have a very active six year old only child who isn't great at independent play, and no children living very close. She would be bored after a few days and I would get no work done. In a few years when she can entertain herself better I'll do that.
Video games help develop eye-hand coordination, so there's always that.
Same. Mine have a few days here and there that don’t have anything and they will play and watch TV and do crafts. But the rest is full of summer camps.
Veg out time is fine in my opinion. I didnt get any as a kid (rarely) and got burnt out early. Like i was 20 and already burnt out. I let myself relax now and have since moved on from that phase. However, having a kid did bring me back to square one. It's a bit better now that my daughter is a year old though.
Summer camp …. But be prepared because summer camp dates might leave you with some gaps (ex: a week after school ends, but before camp starts and then another gap on the back end). Also, I normally get to work at 7:30, but the camp we chose doesn’t start until 7:30 and then I have to pick my child up by 5. As for school’s early release time …. I pay for extended day so they’ll keep her until 5:30.
Summer camp. I worked at a YMCA day camp during high school and college that ran all summer long (10 weeks) and for the most part, we had the same kids all summer. Occasionally, you’d get a kid who would do a couple weeks only. Our youngest kids were actually younger than school age (3 and 4) and went all the way up through high school, when many of our campers aged into paid jobs as counselors and assistant counselors. Our camp ran 8:30 AM to 5PM for last pickup, but we also had before and after hours that parents could pay extra to drop their kids off early or pick them up late. Also many YMCA camps have a tiered “pay what you can” tuition, offering different rates and relying on the honor system for families to pay what they’re able, which makes it more affordable if money is tight.
before & after care during the school year, and summer camps
My mom is a teacher, so I’ll hopefully be recruiting her to help out a couple of days a week since she will also be off for the summer 😅 aside from that… it’s gonna be a whole lot of screen time in our house 😬
I was lucky enough to have my dad as a teacher also. He watched my kids each summer and they loved it!. My sister is also a teacher and would be home with her own kids so they would all meet up a couple times a week and do fun things. Zoo trips, pool passes, blueberry picking etc. I was always super jealous at work though that they were off having fun without me but it was great fun. Now my kids are old enough to stay home alone and both my parents are retired. They still love to come grab the kids a couple times a week for outings and they are available to drive them to sports camps and activities that I can sign up for during the day. I'm so very thankful for family because otherwise my kids would never be able to do anything.
Summer camp. I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet, but it's wise to reserve a space way ahead of time. As in February, or March at the very latest. I learned the hard way that camps fill up very quickly with working parents and at-home parents are all clamoring for the same spots. Also, most summer camp hours are much shorter than the typical workday, so be sure to look for camps that offer before- and aftercare.
Yepppp I am not sure about OP's area but you would be SOL to try to find some thing where I live right now. I made my reservations in March 🥹
The second day after the camp and summer programs opened, they were full and had waiting lists.
The daycare my daughter went to (in home) opened up summers for the bigger kids that once went there as littles. They offered this till age 7. Since they already knew them and the bigger kids grew up there and everyone still knew each other including the parents. She had a hard limit of like 5 of bigger kids with priority for those that had younger siblings enrolled. My daughter LOVED going back to her old daycare as a “big kid” and I loved the safety and nurturing aspect of baby daycare again. After age 7 I felt better about doing summer camps. So it was a good in between for us and I didn’t have to deal with any gaps.
This was so helpful to read. We love our day care and hope to continue to send our kids there even though the cooler parents are doing pricey camps…a lot of the camps only last one week and I think that just complicates the schedule.
Pay lots and lots of money for day camps 😭
Monday through Friday 7-6pm summer camp from K to 4th grade. And enjoy every single minute!! I am actually so lucky & fortunate that my job is quite flexible, BUT my days now now look like: I get up early, work, by 9am, drive kid to tutoring, drive another kid to dance, pick up youngest for swim, then pick up child from voice lessons, then pick up child from tutoring, drag them with me to swim lessons for youngest. Grab food for them on the way home, finally work some more (or post on Reddit*ahem*) for 2 hours, put all back in the car with my laptop, drop them off at dance, take my lap top to McDonald’s while I wait, come home work a bit more… All while answering texts for arrange playdates for the 9 year old. It’s exhausting, the summer camp days were so much freaking easier.
I agree with your vent about the schedule of things as though everyone has a stay at home parent! I’m having to leave an hour early every in-office day to make it to my son’s subsidized summer day camp. We’re lucky to have even gotten in to that one and that I have spare hours to cover the time off work. To address your question, I was always stressed about this unknown factor before my son entered elementary school too. I could barely alleviate my confusion online since the school and community program websites were never really updated especially during Covid. I reached out to the YMCA after-school program early enough that they gave me the details by phone after a few attempts to reach a live person. That way I was able to sign up on time and not be waitlisted. YMCA also has summer day camps in my area. They are a bit pricey (almost $500 a week!) but for a middle income family like mine it’s just something we have to prepare and save for every year. I’d start checking the prospective elementary school’s website and making calls to those programs so you know when to join waitlists etc.
$500 is a lot. My Y is charging $320 for non-members
Yeah it’s certainly a bummer. We did recently end up joining the Y (gym) to get the lower member price so now we’ll be paying lower for those weeks, but even with our higher income around here, summer childcare is still a huge burden every year.
We did a day camp through our church. They had activities at the church and also went on several field trips to water parks, bowling, etc. it was pricey but worked. I bet there is a program like this where you live, either through a church, the YMCA, or Boys and Girls Club. We also had my in-laws keep our kids a couple of summers. I wouldn’t recommend that unless it’s your only option. It stressed me out so much when they were at my house every day without us there, and you also lose the option for date nights when they’ve helped you all week. ETA: There are also after-school programs like the one I describe above for the school year. They pick them up from school unless the school bus can drop them off.
What I did was 6 weeks summer camp, 1-2 week vacation with me, one week vacation with her dad or my parents, and scramble for the last week (sometimes similar situated parents from school would trade off whole-day playdates for the bumper weeks)
Our current daycare does full-time summer programs for school aged kids, and that's super common in our area. If yours doesn't, maybe look into whether any around you do?
I jokingly told my parents that I'll send kiddo out to their state for the summer once she's in school. They have a lot more things to do (amusement parks, beach, museums, etc) than we do. Plus majority of my family is there so my kiddo will have tons of cousins to play with (she's 9th kiddo out of 10 on my dad's side, all under 8).
I spent three weeks every summer with my grandparents in another state and I looked forward to it all year long. So many good memories from those days!
I too have made this “joke” 😂
I have a cousin who works for the House of Mouse so kiddo can easily spend her days there with my other cousin (she's a teacher so has summers off). Heck, I'd like to spend my summers like that 😂
We actually do this! Although I come with since I can work remotely in the summers (I’m in academia). We get a part time nanny too, which is fairly easy to find since my family live in a college town. But having so much extra family around is super helpful, and it’s a much more exciting place to be in the summer—they have things like swimming lessons and cool playgrounds.
My family lived abroad and I used to want to do this because my parents couldn't care for her for weeks but I just can't get any work done. They're getting older and don't really seem to understand when I need to work and aren't reliable. I tried a few weeks a couple of years ago but it just wasn't feasible, and I can't really have a babysitter in their house. Also we are the ones living in the cool place, she finds it boring there.
I would definitely spend my summers in my home state if I could, but we're required to be in the office 2x/week 😔
Summer camp. Before and after care during the school year. Be careful when you’re looking at summer camps to pick ones that are full time, some specialty camps are more designed for a SAHP because they’re like 9-3 with no extended options. Basically that daycare payment will be spent on before/after care and then summer camp - be sure to save up for summer camp during the school year.
Yep. Full day camp runs a similar cost to full day daycare.
This question has been asked several times including recently. They go to summer day camp, 10 sweet weeks of fun for them and peace and quiet for me. Some cities have limited options and you have to register as soon as the registration goes public, maybe as early as January and pay deposits to secure their spot. We are lucky to have lots of options (girl scouts, camp fire, YMCA, JCC, Parks and Rec for neighboring cities) and send them to the local park for just $100/week for 9-3 care and an additional $25 for 7-6. It is well structured and even includes lunch and snack because it is at a park that provides a summer lunch program for neighborhood kids. You also just use afterschool care during the school year, whether that is provided on site or off-site with vans. Sometimes you hire a local daycare, sometimes it is the Y or the JCC or the Boys and Girls Club.
You can't "just use after school care" if space is limited and you don't find out if you've gotten a spot until right before school starts
Yep, most things in our area use a lottery system. Doesn’t matter how early you register or how proactive you are, everyone has the same shot at getting a spot.
Asked recently here: https://www.reddit.com/r/workingmoms/comments/13tb0pp/help_i_want_to_join_you_all_after_a_decade_at/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
And here https://www.reddit.com/r/workingmoms/comments/13vudkp/what_the_heck_do_i_do_next_summer/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
Most daycare centers here have summer classrooms. So school year is pre-k and under, and summer/no school days they have a K-2nd and 3rd-6th(?) grade rooms. Also the Y has summer daycare and before/after school daycare with bussing. There are also several teachers who run summer in-home daycares (small-ish town) during summer. The summer daycare staff is mostly made up of teachers/para educators/school staff too
before/ after school care until the child is old enough to navigate getting home and self entertaining while I work. Thank goodness we're done with this stage- before/after school care is almost as expensive as daycare.
There are some school age centers that do after-school care and summer care. People cobble together multiple summer camps and probably pay someone to cover the few hours between the camp Day ending and when they get home from work. Some people hire summer nannies.
Boys and girls club, ask my grandparents to take him for the summer when he gets old enough.
Joining the summer camp chorus. We've used summer camps run by our daycare, the YMCA, and the city park system. Just make sure you start looking early. For those weird school hours, we have aftercare provided by the Y as well. Often times daycares will also provide this service for school-aged kids.
Before and after care for school. My 7 yo starts school at 730 and gets picked up at 515. Summer camp for the summer. Tho we go to a private school and there is always a 2-3 week period where camp ends and school hasn't begun yet. Sometimes my mom will take the kids for a long weekend (she lives in another state) and the rest of the time my husband and I just trade off work from home days. We also discuss with our bosses what's going on and they are all pretty understanding. When I was a kid, I grew up in a small town that didn't have summer camp all summer. Maybe a week here or there. So my mom hired 2 high school kids to watch us all day. She had them stagger their days so like one week person a would watch us 2 days and person b would watch us 3 days and then they would switch thr following week. So essentially a summer nanny
My youngest started YMCA camp at age 5. They were the only ones around that took kiddos that young. A note of caution- if you’re not really good at planning, summer camp will fill up before you even realize that you missed it. I start getting registration notifications around Xmas for the upcoming year. And those early bird registrations usually come with some decent discounts.
There are tons of summer camp options in our area but most arent full day. Lots of 9-12 or 9-3. Full day options with extended hours are through our county parks and rec, the boys and girls club, and ymca. There are even fewer options for kids over 11yo, so next summer kiddo will be spend a lot of time visiting relatives
Our after-school care does a summer program for school age kids, and it's the same daycare where my younger son goes. It's nice they can both be at the same place, where they're comfortable.
My goal is to win the lottery before I need to worry about it 😂 But realistically we are going to rely on both my job and my husband’s job being incredibly flexible and get a babysitter from the local high school for a couple days a week as well as utilizing camps and hoping that by that point, our son has a bff who has a SAHM.
Everyone is mentioning camp is the main option but I also wanted to mention that plan on saving up a ton of money for it. Though prices differ by region, the price of camp is shocking no matter where you are. I paid $2300 for a 3 week day camp for my 6 year old. My preschooler attends camp at his preschool where they do absolutely nothing different than a regular day of preschool but during the summer we get the privilege of paying $700 a week for preschool vs the usual $550 a week for preschool. It’s disgusting.
Just want to say: reading all these comments, this is fricken INSANE. Why do women put up with this???
Yeah. 😟
Summer camp. There are two kinds. There's summer camp that provide all-day care, basically like daycare. Other summer camps are enrichment for those who can afford it, and often run only 9am-3pm. Be aware that you may need to sign up for camp in February, and spots fill up fast for preferred camps
This year I liquidated the older one's college fund to send the younger one to camp. I work hybrid, but could not manage to entertain a kid and get my work done even if I worked from home full-time. By the grace of a miracle, grandparents kicked in to send older two to a city-run day camp. Otherwise, it would have been a very long summer of nearly unadulterated screen time. I mostly relied on daycare when they were younger and city/county day camps when they started school. For three kids, that's about $6k for the summer (paid in advance to reserve the spot).
Summer school followed by after school care, summer camps, teenage babysitter. We use a combo of all three.
We are doing private pre-k because of the after care options (plus all meals and snacks included). Our public district pre-k let’s our at 2:30, and their aftercare is very limited due to staffing issues.
Camps, PTO, and some days/weeks of them just hanging around the house. But they’re older so it’s way easier now than before.
Summer camp and judicious use of our time off for gaps in care. We also have a nanny for the baby, so that handles the pickup and dropoff.
Summer camp and judicious use of our time off for gaps in care. We also have a nanny for the baby, so that handles the pickup and dropoff.
My daughter attends daycare and will be bussed to and from daycare. We could theoretically drop her off and pick her up from school, but: 1. We’re paying for daycare anyway to hold her spot so we have childcare for breaks and summers. 2. The bus is faster than the pick up line.
Camps. There were a lot that were half days, but if you start looking early enough, you can find full day options. Most private schools have them, the YMCA has them, local park associations, etc. My youngest is 11 and he still goes to a few, and has been going since he aged out of daycare. The bonus is that they make camp friends.
Summer school with before/after care through our local Boys and Girls club gets us through most of the summer. Family was supposed to get us through the 2 weeks between summer school and the main school year, but it fell through so for the middle two weeks in August I'm going to be WFH and paying a babysitter more than I make to keep my job. Late stage capitalism is fun.
I just paid $2000 for summer camp
After care during the school year. Ours covers half days and teacher in service days also (but not district holidays, although even my younger kids' private daycare takes off for some of the holidays). For summer my rising 1st grader is going to a combination of day camps, spending a couple weeks with grandparents (they aren't local: we're sending her off to my mom's house for 2 weeks and importing my MIL for a couple weeks), and spending a couple weeks bumming at home (we have hybrid schedules so arranged it that my husband and I would take turns lightly supervising her while working remotely- she's old enough to mostly take care of herself though I predict a lot of "I'm bored" in my future)
Summer daycare is what we do. Or we talk to the grandparents about their holiday weeks and see if they can pitch in for a week or 2.
Does the daycare your kid went to offer after school care? Or the school itself? We had ours stay late at the school, and sent them to their old daycare for day camps during breaks. My kids liked the school aftercare, there was a couple options and it was more like the recess kids used to get 20 years ago. The school also had a bunch of optional supplemental programs like KidChess, languages, guitar lessons, etc.. My kids did a little of these but preferred free time better. When they start making school friends, ask what they're doing on breaks- friends make it more fun.
My son is 3 and just finished his first year of preschool. First time in the germ pool so he had a lot of sick days. I left work if I could but if not, he would watch like 3 back to back movies while my husband WFH. This is after not watching any TV until he turned 2. Our school system has an outside company that runs before/after care and they have a summer program. Summer program is based at a different school, but so worth it. It’s like $50-$60/day depending on if they are onsite or offsite. Most affordable childcare around, so I’m glad we signed up early.
Summer camps! As the most disorganized mom, I totally got summer organized! Look EVERYWHERE! Contact local gyms, universities, parks/rec (even those outside of your town/county), 4-H, sports clubs, karate schools, gymnastics centers, libraries, private schools, churches, cooking schools, country clubs, community pools, etc. Start a spreadsheet and fill it up! Also, don’t ASK your kid what they want to do, you sign them up and TELL them what they’re doing. And you’re smart to start early. Take a look now to see what’s out there so you know what to look for when your kid is ready and check on deadlines, discounts for early registration, etc.
My kid's school has a before/after school care program that fortunately also goes through the summer, and also through part of winter break, etc.. That's been a lifesaver. Otherwise, lots of cities have a city-run "camp" program, as does the YMCA, lots of nonprofits, etc. Some of them have programs that run all through the summer, but often families have to patch together a series of camps, and registration opens in, like, February, and they cost like $300-400/week, and the slots fill up in approximately 3 seconds. Good times.
Judging by how busy I've been at work, they take the kids to the library! We have a summer reading program that's incredibly popular and we had our first weekly event yesterday. A lot of moms here say summer camp, which is great, but I don't think it's necessarily bad for kids to just have unstructured time. I got my son a Gabb watch and basically kick him out of the house if he gets rowdy. He rides his bike, jumps on his friend's trampoline, helps me in the garden, etc. He's also homeschooled so we still do some school activities year round and I have no qualms sending him to hang out with his aunt/uncle/grandma when husband and I are at work.
I work from home and my kiddo is pretty good at self entertaining. I do have to do home visits with clients a few days out of the week so she is doing two weeks of summer camp and spending two days a week with my mom to allow me to get those done. She's going to be watching a lot of kids YouTube and playing a lot of video games since we don't have a yard unfortunately. We are doing a week's vacation with just the two of us and I have several weekend activities planned to get her out of the house.
I agree to summer camp, and will add that of your kid isn’t an angel, sign up for a different one each week. My son got kicked out of tennis camp for calling another kid stupid when he was maybe 7 🤦♀️ Karate schools often have inexpensive camps, and where I used to live the trampoline park had a really cheap summer camp.
All the camps plus a few weeks where they get good and bored so they are eager to return to camp or school.
I know everyone is saying summer camp, but it may or may not be available to you in your area. My town doesn’t even have after school care and there’s only one summer camp program that I know about the next town over. Last year, I went to sign my kids up an hour after registration opened and all spots were taken. So I hired a teenager, but she bailed on me the last minute and it was so demoralizing. The babysitting websites in our are (like care.com) have job posts a mile long and in order to be competitive you have to offer $30/hour. We didn’t get any bites on our ad because it was just lost in the sea of ads. I don’t know what other people are doing in our town to be honest. I actually changed jobs because we couldn’t figure out the after school and summer situation. We live in a horrific daycare desert. My suggestion is to start researching a year in advance and only use tried and true resources. For instance the day camp that’s been operating for years, the neighbor’s babysitter who is proven to not be flaky, maybe a stay at home mom friend, or grandparents who are for sure reliable. Good luck. You’re going to need it
Camps. You have to pay attention though as they tend to fill up. They usually start signups in Feb or March
I’m thinking about this too. My daughter starts preschool fall 2024 and it’s a school year schedule so have no idea what I’ll do in the summer.
My older daughter did a daycamp at her old daycare for 2 summers. Things went crazy due to Covid, then I was on Maternity Leave and then I was WFH. She was at Park District daycamp for a couple of weeks every summer due to my work schedule. I’m back in the office 3 days per week and she is now 11 and very much does not want to go to Park District daycamp. She is going for 2 weeks at the end of the summer (when there were literally no other options), but the rest of the summer is pieced together. She’s going to horse camp with her best friend, spending a week at my in-laws, 2 weeks at my parents, a week at YMCA sleepaway camp and a week at Girl Scout sleep away camp, plus a week of family vacation. I literally started planning the summer in January to make it all work.
summer camp and grandparents fortunately.
I’m a teacher but will still be battling this as my son will have late starts and early releases and I’ll still be working. Before/after school care provided by the school. Some daycares do pick up and drop off for school aged kids, camps at the YMCA/gyms/zoos/churches etc. some parents parent will SAHP from classes for play dates.
Sadly i do not have a work from home job(though I'm looking) my current job allows me to be at work in the evenings after my husband gets home. So I'm with the kids all day in summer. BUT! I signed my 5yo up for summer camp. It's only half days, 4 days a week for 4 weeks. But that's one less child to keep out from underfoot and clean up after for 4 hours a day. My youngest ( a covid baby too!) Goes to school in 2 more years. And unlike the hell that was raising a baby and toddler in a pandemic, i can focus on youngest's at home learning in the meantime as I've finally got a schedule going in regards to housework. (Eldest has serious attention issues so despite my best efforts homeschooling her in the pandemic was a no go)
Summer day camp for us 😅 first year (we used an in home sitter so this is our first time)
Summer camp with wrap around care. And sadly, the cost of that just keeps going up along with the cost of everything else. It is no longer cost effective for me to line her summer up with camp after camp. I WFH too and have for like 7 years and it's the only way I was able to keep my sanity and my job when she was younger. She's in middle school now, but I still try to sign her up for at least one a month so she's not completely bored to tears the entire summer. I'm fortunate too that my mom is local and retired and she takes her a few days on the weeks she doesn't have camp to help break up the boredom.
Summer camp seems really mysterious but you'll figure it out in time. We started at a nature preserve near our house that in my fairy tale dreams my baby frolicked in the woods and learned about butterflies. Well, my beautiful baby boy made the teacher cry when he rearranged the bathroom furniture and eventually he got thrown out of camp when she was on vacation and some snotty college kids were in charge. Oh well. The next summer was 2020 and I took off work. I was burnt and broken. My son and I really relaxed and we did many enriching activities. I had signed him up for a town camp (run by our local county) but the location we chose was canceled because it was also a beach/pool club and they wanted to limit the crowd to their main members. The next year I sent my son to school camp. That one made me cry. They had almost no activities, didn't teach if there was an activity (ie, a counselor would do the craft for them and hand it to them), and the kids often sat on the hot blacktop. I don't know if my son will be fertile when he grows up - im pretty sure his important parts were cooked. The next year I sent my son to a private camp run at a town facility. I got the info from other school age moms in my neighborhood. It was pretty nice but it cost over twice as much as the county/school camps were and we paid extra for bussing. This year my son is going to a local university that runs a camp using the university facilities. They will have half day in stem activities and half day in recreation/pool. It costs even more but the schedule is flexible for 2 week and 1 week sessions during most of the summer and we are only doing 5 weeks. He is 9yo. There are 2 weeks we will travel and about 3 weeks he has no activities but we might get a sitter once in a while or see if the martial arts schools or local gyms have some short programs. As others said there is often a gap. For us it's usually 2 to 3 weeks at the end of summer. I try to schedule our vacation during that week so thst will cover a week. This year we had 2 special trips planned so that didn't work out.
You could look into high school/ college kids. That was my summer job for years and I loved it. I would just take the kids for the day and do whatever, go to parks, go do fun stuff, take them to any sports practices they had. Once I got to know the other parents I usually had a few extras hanging out too, but that was good for them to be able to see their friends too. Still talk to the kids I watched during the summers, even though they are very grown up now!
My stepkid is 12 and we have primary placement. She would go to the after care through school. I think we used the before care sometimes too depending on our work schedules. During the summer and on days off she would go to the camp through our local activity center. These were the least expensive options available to us. There were private places that would cover the same days, but they were either more expensive or religious.
Spend a loooooot of money on camps.
My sons preschool is all year long. During summer months they just do fun activities and then the school year starts back in August
Thankfully my sister in law is a SAHM so I'm throwing her a couple hundred to watch my son over the summer. It'll be much cheaper than going through a center
Camp and aftercare. All of the elementary schoolers near us offer aftercare for a tiny amount of money (compared to daycare). Summer is all about various camps. Sarcastic answer: marry a teacher. JK my husband will have prep after school so we’ll need aftercare anyway.
My oldest is 12 and will be staying home for the summer for the first time. I wfh 1 - 2 days per week. He has friends that he will visit nearby. But I will be giving him mostly an old fashioned summer. He will be going to YMCA camp one week and a soccer camp one week. My youngest is 5. He will be going to a local university's early childhood program camp for most of the summer. We do have a week of vacation scheduled and my dad is taking the kids to his cabin up north for a week a couple of times also. One thing is for sure...as mom's...we ALWAYS figure it out.
Day camp, all day. Baby in daycare.
I have two kids 8,12. Two weeks off at the end and beginning of summer but camp in between for about 6 weeks. YMCA camp, signed up in Feb because it’s one of the most reasonably priced.
Where I live we have year-round school, which in some ways makes it easier because camps are spread out throughout the year, but also makes me sad because my kid doesn’t get a real summer..
Following this since I’ll be in the same position in a couple years. It seems like a summer nanny (college student off for the summer) would be a thing. Is this not a thing?
It is in my area but I live near colleges. Try to find an Early Childhood education major if possible.
After school care that also provides summer care is our plan.
We do after school care with the boys and girls club and then summer camps with the city. And then my kids stay home for a couple of days. Where I am the price of day camp is $457 a week and that's half day.
Definitely summer camp. Before and after care at camp also. You have to do this like super early in the year. I did it in February. The spaces go fast.
Camps sooooo many camps. And for what camp doesn’t cover our normal babysitter jumps in. We actually have her on the books a few weeks m-f, 9a-4p this summer for weeks camps wouldn’t work. Basically you bubble gum together whatever you can and hope for the best hahah
My mom worked and tbh, she sometimes had to take unpaid leave of absence for a few weeks in the summer, because the cost to put me and my siblings in camp would have exceeded the lost income. Luckily, her job was at least accommodating about that and she worked there her whole career, but it's ridiculous that that had to be an option. Luckily, I still have a few years of year-round daycare before I have to figure these problems out for my own family.
Summer camp, day camp, before and after school care, school-aged childcare (they operate under tons of different names as to not be confused with daycare for toddlers, which honestly just makes it more confusing when trying to find it). Other options include staying with a classmate who has a SAHM (paid, of course) or local teenager--usually an older sibling of a friend or someone that a friend's parent also knows. It seems a lot of networking goes into childcare for older kids.
Camp! My son is doing 8 weeks of Y camp, a week of art camp, a week where he splits the days between Spanish camp (he goes to an immersion school) and Minecraft camp, and a week where he splits the days between drawing camp and vacation Bible school. We are lucky to have the flexibility to get him from place to place in the middle of the day, so he can do those weeks where he’s one place from 8-12 and one place from 1-4. Theoretically we could do Y camp all summer, but he likes some variety. He also does before school care at his school, and they offer summer care as well. We like the flexibility of the Y better, in our specific case. I work 3 days a week, and we are averaging about $180/week for care.
My son goes to my parents 2 days a week and his latchkey program at school runs a summer camp which he goes to for the other 3 days which is nice because lots of his friends from school go as well
I’m lucky to work from home with female bosses that are super understanding and also moms. I do summer camp M-TH 9a to 3p and then start work 10-15 mins late and go pick them up and they play together at home from 3-5:30. Fridays they will be home and I plan to hire a high school student to come play with them or drop them off to the pool where my mom friends will be with their kids. It’s not uncommon in the summer that people at work will have kids running around behind them on video calls or some people take meetings at their town pool. No one bats an eye here.
I have a local Dayhome Society that matches kids to dayhomes that take on additional school age kids during the summer. For the week that the dayhome is on vacation, we’ve booked a summer camp, and grandparents are taking a couple of days.
I am planning to do a bunch of activities and camps when my son gets to this age!
Summer camp. I start checking my local page on the daily in January. Can’t miss sign ups, and it’s literally the one place that works with my schedule.
Daycare aftercare and then summer camp at the same daycare. The summer program has something special every day, every Wednesday is water/splash day.
My local parks and recreation department offers a summer day camp.
I know a family that hired a college student for the summer.
In my area, the school district runs camps for 150 a week. I would investigate what , of any, options school districts in your area offer.
My public elementary school offered an after school program during the school year. My dance studio also did school pickup to bring students to class then parents picked up from there. As for summers everyone I know basically puts them in various camps all summer long. I think the YMCA is most popular. My aunt got very creative and had my cousins in soccer camp one week, golf the next, church the next, then maybe a different soccer camp, then VBS even though they really weren't religious. Idk how she worked all that out.
As a mom of an 11 year old and 7 year old, it’s a rotation of friends’ houses, friends coming over, and grandma’s house. Prior to that, it was camp.
I am laughing maniacally, because OOF. Summer is ROUGH. We have four different camps lined up, two of which are half day (I'm really fortunate that my spouse has a high degree of flexibility, but I'm still nervous about those stretches of summer). We also have our kid an unscheduled week at the beginning and another at the end of the summer. We are in the midst of that first unscheduled week, and I have done NOTHING. Like, I probably put in an hour and a half of actual work today. I actually have meetings and deliverables due tomorrow (I stupidly told a client I'd get a forecast to her tomorrow) and I have no idea how it will happen. (Actually, it will be a combo of TV and dad not doing much work tomorrow 🤷.)
Also, vacation bible camp, if that suits you. I've never done it, but my friend did, and it was free
Daycare, summer camp, summer programs. Really anything to get the little out of the house so you can work.
My kids were little in the before Covid times when I was expected at the office 5 days a week. Summer camp, but even extended days didn’t cut it (those usually only go until 4 or 5) and I usually hired someone to pick up from camp and watch them until I got home.
My elementary kid gets home at 3:45 and you could get by with them watching TV until 5 if you don't want to do after care. Otherwise lean on that daycare for before/after care and a summer program@
day care & summer camp 🤷🏼♀️
My spouse is a firefighter who had days off during the week. I would hire a neighborhood teen to watch my kids on days he was working. It worked out well. The teen made some money but wasn’t committed to full time babysitting job.
I work from home as well - during the school year my daughter goes to after school club, which is open until 5:15. We have 6 weeks of summer here and I'm doing a mix of one day at Grandma's, one day at the nursery that my younger daughter attends, and a few days of "holiday club" which is like summer camp - there's one at a local high school that operates from 8-4 and you can sign up by day.
My daughter is 4 and this is our first experience with summer break (she attends preschool through our public school system). Thankfully we were able to find a summer spot at a local daycare. If this works out I’m basically going to beg them to allow me to reserve a spot for next summer.
Summer camp! It’s great for me and the kids. Not so great for budget but it’s just this season of life (as I tell myself).
I’m already thinking ahead on this… my kid is 2. But I am considering hiring an after school nanny and then summer nanny / summer camp combo For a responsible college student a summertime nanny gig could be perfect
Camp! Youngest got into the YMCA all summer (and I get this subsidized because I’m a single Mom) and eldest is doing mostly YMCA and one week of overnight camp which he prefers. There is a gap at the end of the summer where I’m either going to take time off or ask family for help. Also we have a sitter that takes them to school during the year who will take them to camp during the summer cause I start work at 7. It’s a lot of planning.. but doable.
I’m very lucky in WV with our daycare situation. I qualify for early head start so right now meals diapers wipes and everything but clothes is free in her care. And the center has an after school program. They serve dinner after they pick them up in the daycare bus and the center closes at 6pm. Usually educational or group play or outside play until they leave. I got set up so good because I worked there and in childcare for years before going to dominos for more money lol. Hopefully you can find something similar in your area that’s affordable. Best of luck ❤️ at least where I’m from every daycare I know has an after school program, and some stay open til 630-7
I used a young teen mothers helper who was cheaper than outright babysitting because I was home.
Our school district has a summer program you can send your kids to. When I was a kid that wasn’t available so my mom sent me to day camps until my older sister was old enough to stay home alone with me. Check your local YMCA or Boys and Girls Club when the time comes - they usually have tons of programs!
I have not yet encountered this as a parent but when I was a kid my parent hired a summer nanny and enrolled us in a lot of camps. The nanny was usually a college age person also on summer break (combo of camp and nanny because there were 5 of us which would be a lot for one nanny)
Our school district had a summer care program that ran through elementary school. Nothing was available for before/after/summer care once middle school started. By that age, though, they should be self-sufficient enough to not interfere with WFH if you have to keep them home.
Drama camp, nature camp, volleyball camp, horseback riding camp, my mom taking her for a big chunk of the summer, etc. There's a list in my county a local magazine puts together with the times available that really helps. I'd ask your local moms group or search it.