Working Parents - how do you handle summers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Camps with extended care. The only people whom I know whose kids did swim team had a SAHP or a sitter.

+1 Swim team is for SAHM families.

A lot of the families on our neighborhood team are not SAHM families. But they seem to have one or both parents available a lot on the late afternoon. I'm actually shocked how many families there are who have BOTH parents hanging out at swim practice. I wonder when they work?? I do contract work from home, usually part-time so I can do drop off and pick up, but there is no way my spouse could be hanging out at swim practice at 4:30 pm. It's a fairly UMC neighborhood and I wonder how people earn the money that they seem to when it seems like they don't work much!

[Anonymous]

We do one camp for the entire summer (minus vacations) and the hours are 8-5:30 so it's much like it was back when they were in daycare. Kids are 5 and 7.

I know people that have this elaborate mix of camps color coded in excel charts including some camps that are 45 minutes away each way. Good for them that works for them but it wouldn't work for us.

[Anonymous]

We have a kid in PK4. Goes to HeadFirst summer camp with extended care.

Once that is done in early August, he goes to a few other random daycamps.

We try to take off the last two weeks in August, each parent alternates.

[Anonymous]

I remember those days. When kids were much younger, they spent the summers at their old home-based day care, which they liked. But that ended probably around K.

Basically we took all our vacations in the summer (though I was at a new job and was still accruing vacation), did some small trips and visited family that happen to live near a beach. The rest of the time, cobbled together various day camps that had extended care. The hardest part was that the kids didn't want to do the same camp for too long, so every week or two we'd have a whole new schedule/drop-off location/lunch requirements, and I had to create a spreadsheet for all that.

Now that kids are in middle school, one still does day camps, but generally is able to get there on bike, the other prefers to stay home. DH is now also mostly working from home and his job is relatively flexible, outside of some meetings (he needs to complete his tasks but is not really on the clock).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone had luck asking for more flex from employers during the summer?

Not officially. But my supervisors have always been women with kids and always understood when I wasn’t available from 3-4pm in the summer bc I was doing camp pickup.

Kids are late ES. When they were younger, I only used camps that had aftercare until 5.

Basically this. Kids are now 5th and 7th, so spouse and I alternate drop off and pick up. Bosses don't mind, because they know I also handle things before/after hours.

When they were younger, we only did camps with before and aftercare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a year round nanny. In the summer, the kids go to day camp.

this.

Summer day camps, many are phenomenal in the WDC area plus nanny/housekeeper 2-6pm who cleans, cooks, does pickups, gets them to practice, leaves when we get home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Camps with extended care. The only people whom I know whose kids did swim team had a SAHP or a sitter.

+1 Swim team is for SAHM families.

swim practices are 4-7pm daily so after day camp. and super fun! the older kids have later practices, and the early AM practices are even better stroke clinics.

[Anonymous]

Camp. Extended hours. Car pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Camp. Extended hours. Car pool.

Also our swim team has a 7-8am practice. My kids shower and eat second breakfast at the pool and we carpool to camp with other swim team families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gave up on swim team but both my kids played 2 travel sports so it was not a big deal.

We do 2 weeks of sleepaway camp and if I had issues with drop off/pick up i'd do 4.
Local camps had early drop off and late pick up. The kids are just playing so staying late is not big deal.

My kids loved camp and had so many incredible experiences.

Grandparents do 1 week in August.
We do our vacation in August when camps are done but school has not started.

So you handle it by scheduling sleep away camp and using extended day for day camps?

Basically… camp ended at 3 they stayed 1 extra hour.

They would have done sleep-away camp either way.

[Anonymous]

We have a nanny so we don't do camps. She comes up with craft projects or supervises a STEM kit like kiwibox. One summer she taught them how to cook. Another one they got fluent in French (her first language). This summer they're building a treehouse. She arranges and takes them to playdates, museums, concerts, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Camps with extended care. The only people whom I know whose kids did swim team had a SAHP or a sitter.

+1 Swim team is for SAHM families.

swim practices are 4-7pm daily so after day camp. and super fun! the older kids have later practices, and the early AM practices are even better stroke clinics.

Where do you live? All of our pools have swim team in the morning before open swim opens (8-10am); having the pool closed for swim practice from 4-7pm cuts into core public swim hours?

[Anonymous]

I drill into my DD head how much being a working parent sucks. I wish we had structured our lives so I could work VERY part time or just stay home. My DH Fed job just doesn’t cut it around here, and when we married I planned to use my law degree and “change the world” (tm). So dumb, I would be much happier spending more time with my kids in the summer, and doing some sort of part time piecemeal work like research or wills or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I drill into my DD head how much being a working parent sucks. I wish we had structured our lives so I could work VERY part time or just stay home. My DH Fed job just doesn’t cut it around here, and when we married I planned to use my law degree and “change the world” (tm). So dumb, I would be much happier spending more time with my kids in the summer, and doing some sort of part time piecemeal work like research or wills or something.

Spend your time teaching your DD how to marry rich. Don’t send her to camps that won’t help her accomplish this goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Camps with extended care. The only people whom I know whose kids did swim team had a SAHP or a sitter.

+1 Swim team is for SAHM families.

A lot of the families on our neighborhood team are not SAHM families. But they seem to have one or both parents available a lot on the late afternoon. I'm actually shocked how many families there are who have BOTH parents hanging out at swim practice. I wonder when they work?? I do contract work from home, usually part-time so I can do drop off and pick up, but there is no way my spouse could be hanging out at swim practice at 4:30 pm. It's a fairly UMC neighborhood and I wonder how people earn the money that they seem to when it seems like they don't work much!

Haha our neighborhood is the same. I do see a few parents on calls and even laptops by the pool. Literally "phoning it in" lol.