Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those were my kids in grade school. But I was a SAHM. We slept in (what a treat) and headed to an activity (pool, park, museum) around 3:30. If you hit it at four or after, it's half price. Score. We stayed up later and got up later. But again, I didn't have to work.

Lazy bums

This was most kids’ summers back in the 80s and 90s. Only DCUMs think down time is a waste of time.

1. Digital entertainment wasn’t on demand back then.
2. A lot more kids were home/around to hang with.
3. Many (if not most in some areas) families had a SAHP.

It’s not an apples to apples comparison. And I say this as a long-time SAHM who didn’t use many camps. It’s just not possible to have the same sort of summer with no structure. I did my very best to recreate it, but even the “unstructured” stuff had to essentially be planned and structured by me and other moms.

I’m proud of the summers I gave my kids, but it’s not accurate to say you could just turn them loose and it would be just like our 80’s/90’s summers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those were my kids in grade school. But I was a SAHM. We slept in (what a treat) and headed to an activity (pool, park, museum) around 3:30. If you hit it at four or after, it's half price. Score. We stayed up later and got up later. But again, I didn't have to work.

Lazy bums

This was most kids’ summers back in the 80s and 90s. Only DCUMs think down time is a waste of time.

Me to! DCUM hates childhood apparently.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those were my kids in grade school. But I was a SAHM. We slept in (what a treat) and headed to an activity (pool, park, museum) around 3:30. If you hit it at four or after, it's half price. Score. We stayed up later and got up later. But again, I didn't have to work.

Lazy bums

This was most kids’ summers back in the 80s and 90s. Only DCUMs think down time is a waste of time.

You mentioned that he's going to play with neighborhood buddies during some of his downtime. Are you sure that those buddies will be around?

Totally agree with the swim team idea. It's flexible and will make him a ton of pool friends.

Are you prepared to find a few last minute camps if he gets bored quickly or your work picks up?

So cheap

Why would you not hire a nanny? Don't be cheap. A 10 year old needs supervision. Have them go to the pool, movies, etc. Even back when I was 9 I had a babysitter or was at camp, until middle school. Just 2 or so more years of paying for childcare left, you can do it.