Op here. I have mom guilt that they have to stay at school aftercare till 6pm unlike other kids could get home early to rest. I want to make up to give them a fun summer.

Op here. I have been doing school drop off/pick up for all kids for years. I do not justify my husband's nagging of helping out for only a few weeks of summer camp transportation a year. He thinks it is unnecessary and avoidable, and I try my best and spend a lot of time on planning to avoid that from happening. He works from home, but he will not supervise kids. And, that's why all kids are in after-school childcare. I have not found a camp that my kids would want to attend for full summer for many years. One find Bar-T mountainside camp boring because they do the the same things repetitively every week.

To one PP above, it is not only about camp price. I think my kids are used to Bar-T aftercare which they go to, so they are looking for to explore different schedules and other activities that summer camps could offer. They are just more easier to get bored and want to keep occupied. Our neighborhood loves camp whitman so much, and one kid do not like it at all after trying for a week. I try my best to accomondate their interests. It is not fun to driving around, and I work at night to make up the hours.

I think a lot white non-immigrant families see value in having relatively unstructured camp time in the summer. Dh and I are in that category. We appreciate some swim instruction, but priorities are otherwise fresh air, free play, socialization, and being active. Once they are a older (maybe 5th grade+) they will start doing camps that align more with their interests or for enrichment.

This summer they will not be able to do the same programs (I will have elementary, middle school, and HS, but not driving age yet) and it will be a logistical nightmare, I'm sure, but I also want to make sure everyone has a camp / job/ activity to go during the week rather than just sit at home on devices (we are not in a walkable or bikeable area). There is no right or wrong answer IMO as long as you and your spouse are on the same page.

Honestly your desire to do all sorts of camps and make things difficult for drop off and pick up would drive our family nuts. If you made that plan without my agreement I wouldn’t help with the driving. To me summer is about family fun so convenience is key. And summer camp is just childcare - albeit fun childcare. It’s the best time of the year but it’s not fun to spend tons time chauffeuring kids to out of the way camps when we could bustle that time for picnics at the pool in the evening.

Asian full time working parent in MoCo - the best camp I found offered multiple choices all day and went on for a total of 6 weeks; it was SO much better than places that offer dinky-one week experiences where the first day is lost in everyone getting to know one another. It’s also uber-privileged to be able to send your kids to different camps in the same week- that would have been wasteful for me. Both my kids went to creative summer until they aged out into CITs,

PP^^ I work full time, too. My kid needs to be occupied and would prefer to be with all his friends all summer. None of my son's friends would be around for him to play with. They all go to camps.

I'm in NW and my kid is going to 7 different camps. Two different overnight camps, soccer, baseball, Calleva, flag football and one I can't remember off the top of my head right now. I've always coordinated with the parents of his friends so he has buddies at every camp he is going to. We also carpool.

Your DH sounds very clueless, maybe on purpose. Of course you need summer childcare, you cannot leave them home unattended all day. Maybe he is thinking you should quit your job.

You can definitely do just one camp all summer if you find one you like, though.

Anonymous wrote:OP, not sure why you seem to be bragging about sending your kid to crappy one week camps. And somehow this is proof that Asian parents are better than white parents?

The really good camps are one 7-8 week session. Changing camps every week is a pain in the a$$ and one of the things I hated most about VA camps.

Not OP but which camp has a 7-8 weeks session? I’m interested but live in NOVA.

OP, not sure why you seem to be bragging about sending your kid to crappy one week camps. And somehow this is proof that Asian parents are better than white parents?

The really good camps are one 7-8 week session. Changing camps every week is a pain in the a$$ and one of the things I hated most about VA camps.

I signed up my kid for the Bar-T Mountainside camp for the entire summer (W school) and don’t plan to give it a second thought. They have a lot of interesting activities and sub-camps.

You sound like a real a hole op. I am white. I send my kid to the camp at the school run by the county parks and recs for the weeks it’s available and then two other camps for those other three weeks.

That is what works with my schedule and logistics, and that is what I can afford. I am a single mother and I cannot afford to send my kid to a different fancy camp every single week or pull off the logistics needed to make it happen. I had no idea there were people out there judging me for being white and daring to send my kid to the same camp most of the summer. Jfc.

No right choice here. Different things work for different families. It's great for kids to get a mix of things to do, and get exposed to different people. It's great for kids to have traditions, and do the same thing year after year.

why dont you split up the summer and half you can mix up and half he can pick the camp.

I heard really good things about camps that sound really uninspiring to adults I’m not Asian, but I am an immigrant, so it’s not something I experienced as a child. So from my adult perspective it’s cool to try some new things, and I do sign my DC for multiple various camps. But from children’s perspective it might be cool to just hang out without much of an agenda, and switching every week, mixing with a new group of people, etc might not be kids idea of fun.

My kids go to ES aftercare like Bar-T, so I try to explore different types of camps in summer week by week at different locations. They also explore different EC during school years. Many families in my neighborhood ( mostly white) send their kids to the same summer camps every years for many weeks or they spend some weeks at beach. And, they say it is convenient, stay with the school friends signing up same camps every summer etc. When I talk to other families in other school district (mostly asians) like in W neighborhood, they are like me sending their kids to different locations week by week. Is it culture thing that Asian families normally like to dig into exploring different types of summer camps compared to other races?

My DH (born here) has the same mentality and nag at me that why I go through the troubles spending a lot money to plan on different types of summer camps at each week, and it is a pain to work out on drop off/pick up on multiple kids. He says that his summer at childhood was just staying at home watching tv, playing in neighborhood and go to cheap county camps at most. I work full time, so I need his help for a few weeks to do split the responsibilities for multiple kids drop off/pick up because our kids do not attend same camps each week. Our kids enjoy doing different things at each week. Is he right or he is right that I am planning too much?