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If you switched careers to have summers off to be with your kids...
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Anonymous
| How did it work out for you? I have an advanced degree in one of the HS science fields, and I have experience teaching (college and high school) so I'm thinking about making the leap in the next few years, as my kids enter school. Is it worth it? It would be a pay cut from my fantastic stable, flexible current position, but I can't bear the thought of not being home for the summer. Those who switched or were already in an education field with summers off, what do you see as the pros and cons? Thanks! |
Anonymous
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Summers at home with mom are BORING! All their friends will be in camp so there's nobody to play with. Unless you can afford doing outings and field trips every other day, or maybe you're member of a local pool it's BORING!
We have a pool in our backyard and just the 3 of us playing there is no fun. |
Anonymous
| I think this is right. Not there yet, but I think the ideal time to have summers off would be baby/toddler years. Once they are in elementary school, I would think that it would be a good deal of work to come up with interesting activities everyday (which is fine if you are up for it) and that it would be more fun to be with kids. If you have the money to send them to day camps some of the time (so many camps have 1 week, 2 week, options etc), then the flexibility would be nice. |
Anonymous
| Completely agree with previous two posters. Also, we belong to a pool and frankly, there aren't that many other kids there to play with until later afternoon when everyone is finished with camp for the day. |
Anonymous
| If you like teaching and can do it then go for it. I love being home in the summer. Also, based purely on my childhood, I think summer IS about downtime. We had NO camps and we survived. For my kids, maybe a week sports camp , drama camp, but the rest of the time.....nothing but library and neighborhood pool, and some spontaneous outings. LET THEM BE BORED. That is what childhood is. IMHO kids are way too entertained/stimulated these day. (I'm not in la la land either. Mine fight, whine, and drive me crazy but that's what kids do.) I work at a univ during the year and home in summer. Complaining/bored......I make mine go outside. Guess what? They actually play with each other! They build forts, dig under a rock, read, wrote a newspaper with a friend one year, had many lemonade stands. Also, who cares no one is at the pool. I might read a bit, splash with kids, and they spend a few hours playing with whomever is there. Not saying my way is for everyone but this is just how I look at it. |
Anonymous
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BORED poster here.
It's not fun having a child with a mad face all day long telling you I'M BORED 20 times a day because all their friends are not around to play, because they don't have anything to do and sometimes it's just too hot to be outside, who wants to be inside all day long? and the amount of TV they'll ask to watch, INSANE! I didn't go to camp growing up but none of my friends went either so we were playing together every day all day all summer long. Being home alone with mom is not fun. We're now in a phase that we spend 15 days with grandma in India and 15 days with the other grandma in Florida so that's awesome but whenever we're home they will end up missing their friends eventually. Half day camp, every other day activity is OK. Even having a summer au pair to drive them around and take them places, but staying at home all summer long is BORING! |
Anonymous
| I have summer nanny for mine since I can't stand all the local camps and fanfare and associated stress getting them into camp. This way she can participate on the swim team, which she could not do if she were in camp since practice is in the morning. She does her summer reading after lunch. And then they go do an activity or go back to the pool this afternoon. And this summer she will have 2 evening practices for her sport for about 6 weeks of the summer. |
Anonymous
OP here. I'm on board with this poster. I was going to ask after the first few responses whether this is just an offshoot of the "over-subscribed" kid phenomenon. I do sincerely hope that I can provide my kids with some downtime as I think that's incredibly important, as is playing with each other. Oh my god, my brother and I had the best times together. But I am also trying not to be too naive so I appreciate hearing the other mom's perspectives. Ideally I could see one or two weeks or camp, a couple weeks with each set of grandparents, and maybe a week long family vacation. The rest of the time hanging out at the pool. This is MY idea of a fantastic summer! |
Anonymous
| I don't think it's about over scheduled kids. It's more about parents who work so they send their kids to camp. I think that you might be idealizing your childhood and forgetting how boring it was when your friends went off on vacation. FWIW, I agree with the earlier posters. My kids would be totally bored if I took off for the summer. They love going to camp and doing all of the summer activities that happen outside of our home and family. And, as the mom, if I were home for the summer, much of my time would be spent running the household, not taking them on day trips. |
Anonymous
Pool poster here. Also makes a difference how many and how close in age your children are. I have a singleton. Much tougher. |
Anonymous
| ALSO makes a difference if SAHMs (especially those that intend to keep staying home once kids are school age which is a smaller subset) are common in your neighborhood. I loved having downtime all summer (mom was a teacher) but there were a bunch of other kids in the neighborhood that were also home all day too so it was as if my sister and I were on our own as it may be in many neighborhoods around here in the summer. |
Anonymous
Agree. I'm all for kids being a little bored but it's not the same as when I was little and no moms worked in our neighborhood. There are a lot of moms in my neighborhood who work and it's freakin' hot around here in the summer. But I'm sure you could sign them on for a few activities to help fill the time even if you aren't doing camps. |
Anonymous
I understand what you are saying, but I think camp does not necessarily make one "over-subscribed." My son and daughter are very close in age, but have vastly different interests and don't really play together anymore. I could probably stay home with my daughter and she would have a blast, but my son would be bored. Camp offers him the opportunity to hang with boys his age, play fun games, and get out and run around. That doesn't mean that they have to attend a specialized camp to have fun -- my son would be content just hanging with the boys at the local Y or SACC. If we had a neighborhood of boys his age who were around for the summer, I'd consider hanging around, but we don't. |
Anonymous
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OP, I was a SAHM of 2 kids for 10 years and then I went back to work as a teacher.
I will say that the phenomenon some PPs are talking about is true. Summers off can be very boring for a child nowadays IF they don't have kids around to play with. The neighborhood we live in is VERY different from the one I grew up in. I grew up having "free range" summers with a pack of school aged kids. A few familes had pools which they opened to all of us (usually) There was a group of about 12 kids including my sister and brother and all their friends, and we would just bike aimlessly around the development, bike out to the fields, bike to the 7-11 equivalent, get a soda, bike back, hang out, and PLAY with each other. Lazy summer days. I also read a lot in the summer. The moms were mostly home leaving us alone. We'd show up for lunch, then go back out and hang out together. Later we moved to a different development that had a community pool and we all swam on the swim team but otherwise just rode out bikes and hung out, played games. Kids went to a Girl Scout camp or two and on a family vacation, but otherwise we just hung out. IF your neighborhood has a similar group of kids also home a lot, summer can still be like this, although now the parents have to accompany the kids everywhere. However in some neighborhoods there literally are NO SAHM or D and the streets are empty. It's not that the kids are "oversubscribed". The kids are ALL in daycamp because their parents are working all summer long. It doesn't mean your kids can't have fun just hanging out with you all day, of course. But be prepared for this fact and do check out what the climate will be like before you make a career switched JUSt based on the fact that you want to hang out summers with your kids. Now your neighborhodd may have a ton of kids home all summer, so the above might not apply. but do give it seriousl through. As kids hit school age, they often really want to be with their friends. I find that it is hard to afford a lot of camps on a school teacher salary. Additionally, I would NOT switch careers to become a high school teacher solely to have summers off. Teaching is a wonderful job. but is also VERy hard. if you have a great job know, one where you feel well compensated and feel respected and appreciated, I would think long and hard before switching to something as iffy as teaching can be especially the first few years. If you really want summers with your kids, is there any chance your job would let you take a 4 week vacation? |
Anonymous
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Forget the kids...I would be bored out of my mind home every. single. day. especially with a kid whining at me about how bored they are. So you can take the kids to the pool? Who cares!? What do you do there except sit with some other bored at home moms. A whole summer of that? no thanks.
PPs are right. We have kids in our neighborhood but the area is dominated with working parents so the kids are gone all day in camp and if we stay home its rare that there is another kid to play with. |