A “no camp” summer
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Anonymous
| Try oriental trading for super simple crafts. Play dough, sprinkler, trampoline, etc those are my be go to. If nanny needs extra things on a rainy day, give her $20 and send her to target for the afternoon. Easy lunches or lunch already made and heat to eat or money for chick fil a with okay land for the afternoon. Give her $20 each day to spend on the kids, if you can afford a nanny you can afford money to waste time. |
Anonymous
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We also had a FT nanny and did only one or two camps during the summer, just to break things up. We did half day camps because none of my DCs liked full day camps. We actually used to do vacation bible school at a church near us as one of the weeks. It was really well run and they didn't care if you didn't go to the church. You might want to look around for those type of low structure options.
Another thing I did was buy a membership to a children's science museum and passes to a trampoline place. My nanny really liked being on the move and would have felt too cooped up if she was home all day, every day. |
Anonymous
| My DH is a teacher and so home all summer with our kids. They've never done more than a week or 2 of camp, sometimes not even that. DH plans an activity most days and they do some overnight trips. Lots downtime, minimal screens. |
Anonymous
| I would say no to my 7 yr old. Or, I'd make them come up with a proposed structure and would consider that. |
Anonymous
| I never went to camp growing up. We had a pretty big house, a big yard and a pool so that helped. But my mom stayed home and my younger siblings and I just played all summer. We only took one week long vacation each summer. We never felt like we were missing out. |
Anonymous
You dumb |
Anonymous
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I would book at minimum a weeklong half-day camp every other week.
Free play is great but it gets very old after a week or two. Especially if you get a bad weather stretch like lots of rain or extreme heat. |
Anonymous
| This is what we are doing and looking for a summer sitter to implement. Granted my kids are a year older than yours and are on swim team. So they will get social time there from 9-12. And then meet up with friends who are also not at camp and do crafts and nature center trips etc. we will do 2-3 weeks of other sport camp interspersed and then a long August vacation. |
Anonymous
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I wouldn't structure anything major. Your 7 year old wants a break from structure and you have a pool membership.
I would just ask your 7 year old if they want a weekly activity in the art or sports genre (like taking a class that meets weekly for part of the summer. Otherwise I would leave it alone. |
Anonymous
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Look for a few half day camps.
Look up and plan museum outings that the nanny can take them Check with friends to see if there are weeks they dont have camp so they can come play The social interaction will be more important thab structure. If she goes to the pool every day and none od her friends are there she will not want to keep going. I never went to caml growing up because my mom didnt work. But almost all of my friends were the same, so we hung out together and it was great. But 9 weeks with your 4 year old brother as your only friend sounds kind of awful |
Anonymous
| We're in a similar situation, and I am planning to book a few weeks of camp for the four year-old and one week for the seven year old. Otherwise the plan is golf/tennis/swim in the mornings, go home for lunch and then go to the library or playground or have playdates in the afternoon. I'll also probably plan one "field trip" a week like going to the zoo, museum, or a show, sprinkle in a few organized activities like cooking classes/art projects, and then we'll travel 3-4 weeks. My kids do best with a combination of structure and free play, and they would love it if there were more kids around in the summer to do stuff like ride bikes, make up games, build forts, etc. |
Anonymous
| Going to Europe for a month, daily tennis and swim club, biweekly karate class. We're calling it Life Camp. |
Anonymous
| What about half day camps. My kids have requested fewer break camps, but sometimes still want to do a speciality half day camp. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| I'm not OP but where do you find half day camps? |