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Summer camp tips for working parents
Remember when summer meant the start of relaxation? If you’re a working parent, the word “summer” can be a dreaded term.
Figuring out how to keep your children busy while mom and dad are working full-time pulls at both your heart and wallet. Your heart, because as much as you want to “enrich” your children with all of these wonderful gymnastics, tennis, arts & crafts camps, you also realize that there are benefits to having some time to just veg out and do as little as possible. Your wallet, because the reality is Little Johnny can’t stay home alone, and the camps you’ve checked out amount to a sizeable car payment.
I consider myself one of the lucky ones. My son’s pre-school has a built-in camp option, so I’ve been paying for the upcoming summer sessions all year long. I’m putting off worrying about what to do when he enters kindergarten and actually has the summer off like most regular kids. My neighbor is going the smorgasbord route for her pre-schooler: Gymnastics camp for three weeks; general-interest camp at a different location for three weeks; then back to school for a camp to transition her daughter into the start of the school year. My sister-in-law, who is a personal trainer, is considering two weeks of soccer camp for her son. The rest of the summer, he’ll just have to tag along with her when she meets with clients. And my sister, the lucky one, is relying on Abuelo and Abuela to watch her three kids this summer.
If you’re one of those parents dreading the summertime blues, be sure to check out the Sun Sentinel’s online summer camp guide. And here are a few of my own tips to keep in mind:
- Ask for a group discount. If you have more than one child who will be enrolling in a camp, ask for a price break. It’s also worth asking if you get a group of your kid’s friends to enroll.
- Faith-based groups, city parks and recreation departments, and YMCAs usually offer camps that are reasonably priced.
- Ask about scholarships. Some camps work with foundations that set aside some money to be available to families in need.
- Organize play-date swaps. Check with the parents of some of your child’s friends to see if they’re interested in alternating days or weeks to watch over a small group of kids.
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work...
Joy Oglesby has an infant daughter and a sister 13 years her junior, whom she babies to the now-adult...
Cindy Kent Fort Lauderdale mother of three. Her kids span in ages from teenager to 20s...
Rafael Olmeda and his wife welcomed their first son in Feb. 2009, and he's helping raise two teenage stepdaughters...
Lois Solomon lives in Boca Raton with her husband and three daughters...
Anne Vasquez is the Online Editor in charge of overseeing SunSentinel.com. She is the mother of a 5-year-old boy and a newborn daughter.
Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces...
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 13, and Lily, 6, and is married...
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator, and father of two boys and a girl all under the age of seven.
Comments
I'm sending my daughter to camp this year. My biggest fear with sending her to camp is that I have no way of getting in contact with her when she is out on a field trip, or playing at camp. So I bought her the Motorola W376 from TracFone. Service is as little as $7 a month for the minimal contact needed to be in touch. They have a feature called the double minutes feature which gives you 120 minutes for under $20 for 3 months. This is great because this is all she needs to keep in contact with me while she at camp, and it is very kid friendly. The phone must have been designed for children. Her phone is also very cool. It has a camera, and she comes in built in games. She loves it!
Posted by: Lovingmom | July 12, 2009 10:48 PM