Comments on: The real reason parents send kids to summer “camp”

By: Margie

Margie — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:44:25 +0000

Phoenix has literally hundreds of summer camp options, but most of them are noon to 3 pm, or 10 to 4 on M, W, F, or some other subset of a normal workday. Only a small percentage of them are doable if the parent works a normal dayshift.

For instance, something like the Knoxville program Leslie mentioned, wouldn’t be possible for me at all, unless they also offer before- and after-care (for an additional fee, of course). I wouldn’t be able to get her there for 9 (have to be at work already) or pick her up at 3.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 02:26:14 +0000

Knoxville has a City Parks and Recreation program that is really, really inexpensive–$20 per child. I think it’s 9-3, maybe, all summer long, if I recall correctly. It’s too late for this summer–registration ended in May. It’s for kids aged 6-12, and it takes place at rec centers throughout the city.

By: mamatried

mamatried — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:53:31 +0000

I think the YMCA has a ‘camp’ like the one Diane mentioned but unfortunately the city does not (and I doubt would ever since it would cost money). I am *trying* to work out every day and so have been around the Y a lot and it seems exactly that–inexpensive daycare for working parents during the summer (and I know they also have scholarships).

By: toby

toby — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:52:18 +0000

Why limit this to “working moms”? Isn’t the situation the same when both parents work?

By: Diane

Diane — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:22:16 +0000

In my area the township offers a very inexpensive ($300.00 for a month in the Summer) recreational camp starting immediately after the school year ends.If your town doesn’t have a Rec Camp program perhaps you and a group of parents could attend a city council meeting and suggest they implement one. I’m sure there are many successful program’s they could model.

By: kagranju

kagranju — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:45:35 +0000

Cathy – Absolutely, I do understand that some stay at home parents send their kids to a week of day camp in the summer just so their children can have a fun experience. I did, back when I was a SAHM. But for working moms, these summer camps are a critical part of the childcare patchwork quilt. If we are unable to afford them, we are screwed.

And I know quite a few working moms who are in that position this summer. Husband is out of work or they took a pay cut or furlough (unpaid vacation) in exchange for keeping a job, and now they are having a hard time paying for summer camps, and a really hard time figuring out what to do instead.

-KAG

-Katie

By: Cathy McCaughan

Cathy McCaughan — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:41:27 +0000

Katie, When I was able to send my children to Zoo Camp or whatever, it was absolutely NOT childcare. It was not an entire summer of scheduled activities either. It was a one week break from hanging around the neighborhood all day, every day. It was learning and trying something new. It was something the children loved. I loved them being able to do it. I did not love that the children’s favorite week of the summer was the one that started with me dragging a sleeping toddler out of the house at the crack of dawn to drive one child to zoo camp. This was followed by a rush across town to drop another child at art camp. Next was the world’s quickest lunch for the toddler and then back to the zoo to pick-up the happy child who just experienced a giraffe eating out of her hand. After that, I immediately raced back to pick up the art camper who was learning about printmaking. Again, this was not childcare.