Summer care for Tweens

[alexandmaddie]

Hello all - Yesterday I was offered a full time job after being a SAHM for 7 years. I will be starting in March. I have 3 kids 11, 6, and 4. I have daycare lined up for the rest of the school year and this coming up summer, but my question is what do you do with your 12-15 year old kids during the summer? They are to old for "daycare" but to young to be home alone all summer. Any suggestions?

Thanks. Krista

 

[pumba]

some of the summer rec departments have a program so that the teens can be a junior supervisor. also one of the area community college have a day program for the teens to go to different places during the week and have computer time and swimming time .....look at what they have

 

[java]

I am a sahm but my friends that work use the Y, another fills up the summer with camps... different ones weekly... (usually sports related) My son is dying to go to some of the camps that we have gotten flyers for- (but at $10,000 for 2 weeks- he'll be waiting a while for that one)

 

[barkley]

i think allot of parents in our neck of the woods check into summer schools that the private schools offer. they are'nt cheap, but they provide some type of supervised coverage all day. there are some that do full academic stuff in the mornings and then shift to activities in the afternoon.

btw-those interested in summer camps for kids-shop around!! dd goes to an awsome one that's sleep away. she has a choice of 'base' (a bit of everything), 'aquatics', 'cowboy' (they get assigned a horse for the entire stay and learn all aspects of care along with the riding stuff), 'sports' (includes standards plus motocross and other higher end stuff) and several others. attendance includes realy nice accommodations, all meals, all activities, highly trained/supervised staff (great ratio of supervision)-and we pay around $600 for 2 full weeks.

 

[ckckc2000]

Check out the YMCA summer camp programs-they offer day camps that keep the kids very busy and having fun all summer!!!!

 

[Freyja]

Mine would probably be alone all summer.

 

[KelNottAt]

I know your dilemma. Last year DS was 13 and too old for day camp. Since he and DD like to stay together during the summer we ended up with some creative scheduling for them including sleep away camps, grand parents, work-from-home arrangements, and vacation.

In your case, you might consider hiring a college kid to come to your home. He or she could actually take care of the little ones while your oldest enjoyed some more mature freedoms - under supervision, of course. We did that for a few years and it was a dream. No dragging anyone out of bed on a summer morning, the kids can play with neighborhood friends and really enjoy that lazy summer feeling. (Nothing against the structure of camps, it's just that lazy summers really add to the fun of childhood.)

When we used a summer nanny ('00 - '03) I think we paid her $300/week + mileage for outings. Your costs could be less because you're in a different market, or more because you have more kids.

Good luck!

 

[minkydog]

You know, this is a problem for a lot of parents. It's one of the big reasons that I have never taken a daytime job--what to do with the kids I guess I would try to hire someone in their 20's who could be at home with them,take them to the pool, etc. They probably don't need any one-on-one care, just an adult around to keep things cool. Either that or plan to send them to camp until school starts.

 

[VickiVM]

If it were me, my son would (and has) stay home. But why not try to work something out with one of his/her friend's mom who stays at home. You could pay her and that would also help solve her problem of her child getting bored all summer.

 

[crazyme5kids]

I am a sahm but my friends that work use the Y, another fills up the summer with camps... different ones weekly... (usually sports related) My son is dying to go to some of the camps that we have gotten flyers for- (but at $10,000 for 2 weeks- he'll be waiting a while for that one)

$10,000 for just two weeks ! Camps here are expensive, but would cost around $5-6000 (the fancy ones anyway) for 8 weeks.

 

[ducklite]

Where we used to live they had a summer rec program run by the town using a town park and the high school facilities located next to the park. It was day camp, but the older kids did a lot of really cool activities and the older kids took a trip every day--the shore, tubing, amusement parks, museums, all sorts of things.

It was quite cost effective. We combined it with sleep over summer camp as he got older. I'm pretty sure that 14 was the last year he was able to attend the rec program, and when he was 15 he went to the sleep away camp he had attended for 1-3 weeks each summer for the entire 8 week season and had a great time! (That was not cost-effective, but what can you do? We didn't want to leave him home alone all day for the whole summer either... and he LOVED camp.)

I'd check with your town or the Y to see what programs might be available.

Anne