Anonymous
05/07/2026 13:27
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
You mentioned taking him to the pool. Is joining the swim team an option? Swim team fills hours of summer time with practice and team activities.
Anonymous
05/07/2026 13:23
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
I’d tell him he is going to try rock climbing camp, music camp, and karate camp. Those are long days without structure.
Anonymous
05/07/2026 13:11
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
To me this sounds really sad and lonely. Even with a couple lessons per week he is going to be solo most of the time (a dog and cat in the house don't count). Presuming friends and neighborhood kids will all be busy at camp and maybe can talk at night but what about all day when he will have no interactions?
Anonymous
05/07/2026 13:08
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
I agree with PPs who are saying to throw a couple of camps in there. That is so much unstructured time.
Anonymous
05/07/2026 12:55
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We're both FT working parents, but our mature 10 yo kid is adamantly against summer camp. He will keep his year round karate, rock climbing and piano lessons. He's pretty much screen free except to talk to his cousins overseas, which we monitor. He talks to his friends through a Tin Can phone. He doesn't want a baby sitter either. We have a cat and a dog at home, so he won't be totally alone.
I was planning on doing some day trips, the pool, and just hang with DS if I can. I have a pretty flexible schedule in that I can loosely telework (just check emails and put out any fires) from morning till evening and just work at night. Is it ok to have an unstructured summer like this: I can get pulled away to work and DS is just hanging out or should I go against what he wants and do camps/childcare?
A tin can phone so wut?
It's basically a voip "land line" - it's a company that is catering to parents who don't want to get their kids cell phones but want them to be able to talk on the phone with friends. The "tin can" is a phone shaped line a can and is $100 and costs $10/month and you have to manage access through an app. It's brilliant marketing and people like OP are massive suckers. We have an Oooma and use our 20 year old cordless phone - it costs us $6/month. I don't need to manage access to who my kids can and cannot call, we just have a list of phone numbers up on our cork board.
Omma as the same thing. The costs are basically the same. https://www.ooma.com/home-phone-service/myphone/
Anonymous
05/07/2026 12:52
Subject: Re:Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
I would not allow it. Absolutely not.
Anonymous
05/07/2026 12:50
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We're both FT working parents, but our mature 10 yo kid is adamantly against summer camp. He will keep his year round karate, rock climbing and piano lessons. He's pretty much screen free except to talk to his cousins overseas, which we monitor. He talks to his friends through a Tin Can phone. He doesn't want a baby sitter either. We have a cat and a dog at home, so he won't be totally alone.
I was planning on doing some day trips, the pool, and just hang with DS if I can. I have a pretty flexible schedule in that I can loosely telework (just check emails and put out any fires) from morning till evening and just work at night. Is it ok to have an unstructured summer like this: I can get pulled away to work and DS is just hanging out or should I go against what he wants and do camps/childcare?
A tin can phone so wut?
It's basically a voip "land line" - it's a company that is catering to parents who don't want to get their kids cell phones but want them to be able to talk on the phone with friends. The "tin can" is a phone shaped line a can and is $100 and costs $10/month and you have to manage access through an app. It's brilliant marketing and people like OP are massive suckers. We have an Oooma and use our 20 year old cordless phone - it costs us $6/month. I don't need to manage access to who my kids can and cannot call, we just have a list of phone numbers up on our cork board.
Anonymous
05/07/2026 12:44
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
I did this starting at about 10, but was actually alone, unless my 17 year old sister came home from wherever she was. It was so so so lonely. Yes, I had friends to call, and I walked to the pool, but I don't know, I wouldn't want to do that to my kids.
I had two weeks of sleepaway camp in there too, so it wasn't even the whole summer.
I don't think it's terrible to do this, but if you decide to, I would have a backup plan, just in case. I honestly think all that alone time affected my mental health in later years.
Alternatives would be half day camps, or the camps where they do a field trip to a fun place each day. Or a babysitter for part of each day, just to hang out with him (even better if you can find a teenage boy).
I had two weeks of sleepaway camp in there too, so it wasn't even the whole summer.
I don't think it's terrible to do this, but if you decide to, I would have a backup plan, just in case. I honestly think all that alone time affected my mental health in later years.
Alternatives would be half day camps, or the camps where they do a field trip to a fun place each day. Or a babysitter for part of each day, just to hang out with him (even better if you can find a teenage boy).
Anonymous
05/07/2026 12:36
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
He’ll be fine. He’s independent. Let him relax at home.
Anonymous
05/07/2026 12:27
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
Anonymous wrote:You won’t be working more than an hour a day (spread out in chunks). As long as you’re realistic about that and okay with it, this could work. He will have a babysitter- it’s just you.
It's not babysitting if if it's your own kid
Anonymous
05/07/2026 12:13
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
He’s not that versatile
Anonymous
05/07/2026 11:33
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
You won’t be working more than an hour a day (spread out in chunks). As long as you’re realistic about that and okay with it, this could work. He will have a babysitter- it’s just you.
Anonymous
05/07/2026 11:27
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
I think I would tell him he has to pick 3 week-long day camps (basketball, karate, whatever), you plan a family vacation for another week, and the rest of the summer can be unstructured like that.
Hit the library on Mondays when he's not in camp and load him up. Kids benefit from being bored too.
Hit the library on Mondays when he's not in camp and load him up. Kids benefit from being bored too.
Anonymous
05/07/2026 11:25
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
This is PP - meant we “are” doing a few weeks of camp
Anonymous
05/07/2026 11:21
Subject: Summer schedule for a no-camp kid
I have a ten-year-old boy as well. My work schedule is less flexible, so while I do work remotely, I can’t go to the pool for 3 hours during the day.
That being said, he is definitely too old for a babysitter during the day. He is very capable of walking to friends’ houses in the neighborhood, fixing himself lunch, etc. The challenge is that in the summer, friends won’t always be around. He also tends to want to be on screens…
That all being said, we aren’t doing a few weeks of camp and a couple down weeks. With your flexibility and your kid’s activities (mine doesn’t have activities that continue over the summer), you plan sounds good to me.
That being said, he is definitely too old for a babysitter during the day. He is very capable of walking to friends’ houses in the neighborhood, fixing himself lunch, etc. The challenge is that in the summer, friends won’t always be around. He also tends to want to be on screens…
That all being said, we aren’t doing a few weeks of camp and a couple down weeks. With your flexibility and your kid’s activities (mine doesn’t have activities that continue over the summer), you plan sounds good to me.