Unexpected Benefits of Being a WDW Vacationer

[Turn the Page]

We live in a child care desert. Getting summer child care for your kids here is like a Quarter Quell in the Hunger Games.

Our local parks and rec department has a great program, reasonably priced too, for school aged kids but this year they only had 8 openings. All of my ADR and fast pass training came together for me today. Registration opened at 7:00 AM and by 7:04 it was closed but I got a spot!!!!!

DS7 will have a blast at day camp this year. That is a huge load of my mind.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We live in a child care desert. Getting summer child care for your kids here is like a Quarter Quell in the Hunger Games.

Our local parks and rec department has a great program, reasonably priced too, for school aged kids but this year they only had 8 openings. All of my ADR and fast pass training came together for me today. Registration opened at 7:00 AM and by 7:04 it was closed but I got a spot!!!!!

DS7 will have a blast at day camp this year. That is a huge load of my mind.

That's great. He'll have fun for sure. Practicing that phone dialing sure comes in handy.

 

[cabanafrau]

There were recently news stories here locally about the high demand/low supply situation of summer camps in our area.

Over the past five-ish years an increasing amount of friends and acquaintances through work, church, etc. have been stepping into caregiving roles for grandchildren and other family members. A long-time friend is juggling two really plum part-time gigs AND pitching in for the childcare for all of her grandchildren. Her children who have flexible work schedules such as nursing, teaching, optometry have been coordinating together and with her to help each other as much as possible so that they pay daycare at most 3 days per week, dropping down to two in the summer when the teacher's schedule is widely open. It's really intricate choreography and a lot of work to make it happen, especially because none of the six grandkids are quite old enough for kindergarten yet, with two being 1 years old and younger.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I remember those days! I used the Parks & Rec for daycare for our kids, too -- it was perfect because they were outside all day long (and the outside option was cheaper than inside).

I also remember signing up for them for summer camp. I don't think a November 1 comes around without my thinking about needing to stay up to sign them up at 12:01 a.m. -- our preferred weeks were a popular set of dates.

 

[cayennews]

Congratulations! It can be so hard finding great summer care for kids.

 

[Turn the Page]

There were recently news stories here locally about the high demand/low supply situation of summer camps in our area.

Over the past five-ish years an increasing amount of friends and acquaintances through work, church, etc. have been stepping into caregiving roles for grandchildren and other family members. A long-time friend is juggling two really plum part-time gigs AND pitching in for the childcare for all of her grandchildren. Her children who have flexible work schedules such as nursing, teaching, optometry have been coordinating together and with her to help each other as much as possible so that they pay daycare at most 3 days per week, dropping down to two in the summer when the teacher's schedule is widely open. It's really intricate choreography and a lot of work to make it happen, especially because none of the six grandkids are quite old enough for kindergarten yet, with two being 1 years old and younger.

We couldn't find anything at all last year. Between DD15, my dad, my in-laws, and my brother, plus me splitting days off and having them opposite DH I had a child care plan hammered out that looked like a flow chart. It was SO complicated.

This year will be much better.

 

[leebee]

Obtaining child care in our area is difficult at best; it's a nightmare during the summer. I don't know what the plan is for the resident 8 year old this summer, but I'm sure it'll be a complicated juggling act.