Summer plans - working parents and no camp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the day cares will start to re-open if they haven’t already. I have two larger center day cares in my neighborhood, and judging from traffic one was open all along (not sure about the other one). My friends have two kids in a home day care and it’s planning to reopen sometime after Memorial Day.

As for camps, that’s a little more iffy ... Sleepaway camps seem to not be happening, County/rec camps are in danger too, but private camps like the martial arts places will want to do everything they can to make money so I think they will try to open as soon as they can. The large center day cares do take elementary age kids and in fact contract with the schools for before and after care. So they’re accustomed to elementary-age kids. You could look into that if there are some day cares in your neighborhood, that way all your kids can be at the same place which will be easier for you.

You can’t possibly be a parent or in a major city. Daycares have been shut down by the state. The only open centers received waivers to provide care to children of medical staff. Daycares have huge waitlists and will not take random elementary school kids. What planet are you on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the day cares will start to re-open if they haven’t already. I have two larger center day cares in my neighborhood, and judging from traffic one was open all along (not sure about the other one). My friends have two kids in a home day care and it’s planning to reopen sometime after Memorial Day.

As for camps, that’s a little more iffy ... Sleepaway camps seem to not be happening, County/rec camps are in danger too, but private camps like the martial arts places will want to do everything they can to make money so I think they will try to open as soon as they can. The large center day cares do take elementary age kids and in fact contract with the schools for before and after care. So they’re accustomed to elementary-age kids. You could look into that if there are some day cares in your neighborhood, that way all your kids can be at the same place which will be easier for you.

You can’t possibly be a parent or in a major city. Daycares have been shut down by the state. The only open centers received waivers to provide care to children of medical staff. Daycares have huge waitlists and will not take random elementary school kids. What planet are you on?

What state are you in? Because I’m in Virginia and I can tell you the big Kindercare by my house still has cars coming in and out at pickup and drop off. It also never had much of a waiting list outside of infant care, and if OP’s one year old didn’t need the infant room would probably be ok getting into the toddler room right away. We have high turnover because of military families moving in and out a lot, and they can also up staff with employees from other locations if need be. I know this Because my kid went there for 2 years before we switched to another location closer to work! There was only a wait list in the infant room and for before care for the local elementary schools. Even then the wait list was only around 2-3 months at most.

I’d encourage you not to come on here and Scream at people trying to offer helpful solutions. Eat a Snickers.

[Anonymous]

I hope that camps will open in July, or that we can find a summer nanny we're comfortable with. If not, we'll do what we're doing now. The school work provided for my 7 year old by the county is pretty minimal and easily repridurd at home. We are already used to splitting our workday and making up work time in the evening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the day cares will start to re-open if they haven’t already. I have two larger center day cares in my neighborhood, and judging from traffic one was open all along (not sure about the other one). My friends have two kids in a home day care and it’s planning to reopen sometime after Memorial Day.

As for camps, that’s a little more iffy ... Sleepaway camps seem to not be happening, County/rec camps are in danger too, but private camps like the martial arts places will want to do everything they can to make money so I think they will try to open as soon as they can. The large center day cares do take elementary age kids and in fact contract with the schools for before and after care. So they’re accustomed to elementary-age kids. You could look into that if there are some day cares in your neighborhood, that way all your kids can be at the same place which will be easier for you.

You can’t possibly be a parent or in a major city. Daycares have been shut down by the state. The only open centers received waivers to provide care to children of medical staff. Daycares have huge waitlists and will not take random elementary school kids. What planet are you on?

I live in DC and my daycare is open and has been this whole time. We are not essential workers, either.

[Anonymous]

I'm in negotiations with my parents to spend at least a month at their place in the middle of the summer. Their place has a huge yard and a pool and a garden and will be much more fun for my kids than our apartment, and allow for lots of outdoor time. It's a pretty rural area, and we could easily avoid all indoor spaces except the grocery store. It will allow us to keep teleworking, and them to have grandkid time. We are thinking about the risk of getting the grandparents sick, but they are willing to do it and I think we can come up with ways to reduce the risk (isolation after we arrive, for example). They are over 65, but have no underlying health conditions.

[Anonymous]

My parents are watching my 5 and 1 year old now...will continue I guess.If they get worn out and dont want to anymore....? I guess I'll quit my job? Though that's certainly not financially ideal.

[Anonymous]

OP, in your situation, I'd be reaching out to neighborhood high schoolers to see if you can line up some babysitters.

In talking with parents of 11th and 12 graders right now, a lot of us are realizing that our kids' summer jobs are not secure. They were planning to work at the pool or at the beach or as counselors at day camps. Those plans are on hold.

Teens are not the most reliable, but if you contact a few you might get some who are capable of keeping your kids occupied for at least 4 hours each morning.

[Anonymous]

We got a nanny End of May-beginning of August, assuming camp is cancelled. I don’t know what we will do after that.

It’s been tough with each parent taking some time during the week and calling in grandparents for reinforcement. I’m grateful to have parents close by - it’s still stressful because I know we shouldn’t but my DH/I can’t both lose our jobs.

[Anonymous]

Our kids are 8, 6, and 4, and we’ve been muddling through, barely (DH and I both working FT from home). In some ways, I am hopeful summer without camp will be easier, if only because it will mean an end to the nightmare that is online “school” and because our kids are obsessed with water play. So, it’ll be the same cluster as now, but with added sprinklers and water things and popsicles in the backyard instead of fighting over Zoom calls. And maybe that’s an improvement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the day cares will start to re-open if they haven’t already. I have two larger center day cares in my neighborhood, and judging from traffic one was open all along (not sure about the other one). My friends have two kids in a home day care and it’s planning to reopen sometime after Memorial Day.

As for camps, that’s a little more iffy ... Sleepaway camps seem to not be happening, County/rec camps are in danger too, but private camps like the martial arts places will want to do everything they can to make money so I think they will try to open as soon as they can. The large center day cares do take elementary age kids and in fact contract with the schools for before and after care. So they’re accustomed to elementary-age kids. You could look into that if there are some day cares in your neighborhood, that way all your kids can be at the same place which will be easier for you.

You can’t possibly be a parent or in a major city. Daycares have been shut down by the state. The only open centers received waivers to provide care to children of medical staff. Daycares have huge waitlists and will not take random elementary school kids. What planet are you on?

What state are you in? Because I’m in Virginia and I can tell you the big Kindercare by my house still has cars coming in and out at pickup and drop off. It also never had much of a waiting list outside of infant care, and if OP’s one year old didn’t need the infant room would probably be ok getting into the toddler room right away. We have high turnover because of military families moving in and out a lot, and they can also up staff with employees from other locations if need be. I know this Because my kid went there for 2 years before we switched to another location closer to work! There was only a wait list in the infant room and for before care for the local elementary schools. Even then the wait list was only around 2-3 months at most.

I’d encourage you not to come on here and Scream at people trying to offer helpful solutions. Eat a Snickers.

+1, many corporate daycares in Virginia didn't close. I know because my three year old has been going all along

[Anonymous]

Plenty of day cares remained open for essential workers. My impression is that parents who were allowed to telework kept their kids at home. Some day cares did close but people moved kids. I have friends who needed to go to their offices for work and they found say care options.

We are lucky, DH job has said he can work from home as long as DS is home. We are discussing a water slide type dealio for the backyard. If things i prove, infection rates start to decline, I would be ok with a high school student watching DS for part of the day and play dates during the summer. DH has been more strict with the social distancing then I, I am game for hikes on little used park trails, DH is not, so I don’t know how he feels about play dates and a high schooler watch DS.

So we are covered but I am hoping for at least play dates and the local pool. It would suck for summer to be like this.

[Anonymous]

I’ll be able to telework, but it’s super challenging with the kids. I’m peppered all day for help with school work, so in one sense it will be easier when school ends. That said, I don’t want them on screens all day, all summer.

It looks like a few of our camps may be open. If they are, they go.

We will try a few virtual camps, which may take up a few hours a day.

I have about 3 weeks of leave, so I’ll probably burn a fair amount of that spread over July and August to do things with them like cooking, art, hiking, etc. Well, as long as I can get it approved by work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We got a nanny End of May-beginning of August, assuming camp is cancelled. I don’t know what we will do after that.

It’s been tough with each parent taking some time during the week and calling in grandparents for reinforcement. I’m grateful to have parents close by - it’s still stressful because I know we shouldn’t but my DH/I can’t both lose our jobs.

Interested how you set the groundwork with a new nanny around respecting your social distancing rules. Bringing a stranger into my house is daunting right now. But we have to do it to start actually fully doing our jobs again.

[Anonymous]

Our nanny will continue with us.

[Anonymous]

Form a group with other parents and take 1 day per week off to watch the kids.