What does your child do this summer other than camp?
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Anonymous
| Relax |
Anonymous
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Kids are 5 and 8. Preschool and Day camp - all day, every day.
Older child is doing the county library reading program and summer swim team (5x 30 min per week) Younger child did 2 weeks of swim lessons and gets 2x a week swimming just for fun in the evening. Both kids work on their summer learning goals for 10-15 min per day. They make up the curriculum with me and we make a poster that we check off as we go. Rising K asked us to learn how to read, so we are working on the book “How to Teach Your Child to read in 100 easy lessons”. He does 5 Khan lessons or 5 short math worksheets to be like his brother. He practices handwriting because he LOVES to make signs and cards and is constantly asking us to spell things for him and then crying when he gets letters backwards. Rising 3rd grader asked to read 1 chapter book per week and have a parent read the same one. We want him to work on his writing, so he does a writing prompt or writes 3-5 sentences as a letter to a friend or relative once each week. He wants to learn all the state capitals, so we do 5 new ones each week at dinner and also learn facts about the states as a family. He is working on his multiplication tables - but we’re slacking a bit on that because it’s part of 3rd grade coming up. Nothing happens if they don’t do their summer learning and we don’t cajole or remind them. If they do meet their goals, they get small prizes each week. Adults in our home have summer goals too that we work towards and show the kids our progress towards our reading and workout goals or getting better at our hobbies. |
Anonymous
So kewl 
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Anonymous
My kids are very tired after camp every day! Especially the one who swims every day. She just wants to relax and read afterwards. One activity and some play dates/extended family time on weekends but honestly they like yo stay home and relax more than during the school year. My younger one is at a more low key camp with less activity and he would prefer to swim after camp more since they don’t swim during the day. So it’s a balance and we go once or twice a week |
Anonymous
This was me at that age! I had a SAHM and was a creative but indoor kid, ha. Love it! |
Anonymous
| Tutoring 3x/week |
Anonymous
Me too but I made 1000 pot holders! Lol! The funny thing is I mailed them to ALL of my family members and when I went to my Uncle send Grandma 's house after they died, I found some well- used potholders I made for them years ago. |
Anonymous
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My oldest is 13 and youngest is 5. I am pretty sure any person who knows us will think we are overscheduled.
The wealthier families travel in the summer. They travel to their summer homes. Kids are not in some camp all day for childcare. My kids did swim team, piano and academic enrichment for years. This is not a big deal. That in addition to all day camp is a lot for a 6yo. My older kids play tennis and golf now. In years past, we have done private tutors, mathnasium and academic enrichment camps. My 5yo plays. That is what she should be doing. We just got back from Europe. We will be traveling most of August. |
Anonymous
| My youngest mainly plays with neighbors and died some sleepovers. In addition he has math tutoring 2xs a week, does duolingo 30min a day, does a fitness class 3xs a week, and does various random sports camps for the travel sport he participated in and is doing a few tackle football camps. These camps are not daycare they are just a few hours a day. |
Anonymous
| Mine are playing pickleball mostly. That is pretty fun |
Anonymous
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Insecure competitive parenting.
OP, calm down. You're the type of parent that will produce and over scheduled anxious kid. By the time you see what you've done it's too late. |
Anonymous
| We spend a good portion of summer at our vacation home. Lots to do here. Lots of other families who also travel here for summer so it is Kids they look forward to seeing all year. We do camps, but they aren’t daycare type all day camps. Usually a few hours a day doing something very specific. |
Anonymous
+1 Every summer when I was a kid I lounged around by the pool. Sometimes I went to the library or to a friend's house. I never completed my summer reading list and my parents did not stress about it. I was a national merit semi finalist and took a full ride academic scholarship, even though my parents had money for me. I went to grad school and am very successful. I plan to retire in my mid 40s (2-3 years from now). I don't stress about this stuff and am raising my kids with the same relaxed attitude my parents had. They will be fine! I send the older one to sleep away camp for 6 weeks. The little one does some camps, tons of TV, lots of pool time. We stay at our summer house for 2 months and travel internationally for the rest of the time. She's read like one or two easy books. |
Anonymous
No stress you come from money |
Anonymous
| We have pretty relaxed summers as I am a teacher so I can be home with them and don't need to schedule camps etc. My kids are 11 and 13 now, but for the past few years (including several pre pandemic) we make something called the "fun jar." We brainstorm for the fun jar at the beginning of summer and write activities on a slip of paper and put them in a jar. Here are some jar entries: car wash, slurpees, movie in a theater, outdoor movie, Roosevelt island, Georgetown fountains, Baltimore aquarium, water mine, national gallery of art, kings dominion, lemon aid stand, rock creek park hike.... At the beginning of the week we pull a few activities and check the weather. We decide what we want to do each day. We aim for 3 jar activities a week. The kids also have a general schedule that includes free time (usually used for screens) meal times (so they don't drift too far off schedule) and a quiet time (usually used for reading or playing card games). We visit the library once a week. That's how our schedule plays out. |