We have full time care and our kids still go to about 5 weeks of summer camp because they enjoy the activities and my oldest-6 yrs old- likes seeing his friends. In general, the summer camp scene in DC seems to be more common than other areas. The Post ran an article on it earlier this year. Needless to say I question my sanity as I write out the checks....

My ap has my kids for the full 45. Summer coverage, no school days and vacations are the primary reasons I will continue to have an ap.

OP here:

She only mentioned it in passing when I asked about the new APs she met this weekend, including similar aged host kids. I've always tried to encourage my APs to plan play dates with their AP friends who have like-aged kids, that way the AP feels like she's getting something out of it as well. She just said, oh I'm the only one I've met so far that has the kids all day. Not really a whine, just an observation. I just thought it seems ridiculous for me to pay for 45 hours of childcare during the schoolyear and barely use 30, then turn around and pay for camps and do the same with the summer. The summer is actually the reason we have an AP, that and christmas break. Otherwise, I could get by with before and after care during the school year.

And OP, as long as you're following the rules and have told her properly about the job when you matched, do not feel badly about asking her to do her job. There will always be families who have a bigger house, easier schedule, more vacations, whatever. You want an AP who values her experience over what you can give her. If I have to hear about the au pair friend whose parents are divorced so he only has the kids every other week, my head is going to explode. Definitely something I wish if addressed early on in the year because its only gotten worse.

I pay for camps and the AP. I have grade school kids, but I live in the spread-out suburbs with far apart houses and that is the only way my kids see other kids. However, most camps end at noon, 2 or 3.

Of course when I got my AP together with another AP family were our kids were already friends, they don't hang out together because my AP doesn't "like" the other AP.

Do you have a good relationship with the AP?

Definitely not. We had our au pairs that did 5 9-hour days every week when our kids were smaller. Now we have the. In camps about half the summer, but mostly only 9-1pm. Our AP has both kids every weekday the last few weeks of August too.

How long have you had her and are you happy with her otherwise? The whining about how good other APs have it is one thing that has absolutely killed me with the one I have now. She always sees the good things about other families but not us and vice versa.

You may want to have her contact your LCC to put her in touch with APs in her cluster that have similar schedules.

We just moved to the area with our AP. In talking to her it sounds like she is the only AP in the DC metro area who has full charge of the kids all day! Maybe she is exaggerating, but she tells me all the other APs she has met with school aged kids, the kids are in camps etc all day. Am I really the only one who doesn't pay for camps PLUS an Au Pair?