Hi Parents! I finally have 2 school-age kids. Trying to figure out best way to manage summers. All these camps seem to be 1-3 hours max. clearly not made for 2 parents who work full time. Do you have a summer babysitter and pay her double coverage? all day camps? do you block your calendar and run back and forth? looking for tips and tricks. Thanks!
My 3 kids are mostly grown now (21, 19 and 15), BUT my 19 year old is a nanny (she goes to college remotely). Her nanny family has one kiddo in a pre-K program that extends through summer, and another kiddo who’s about 9. They’re having my daughter pick the pre-K kid up several days a week, handle some of the other activity driving, and then just offer playtime as needed when one child is occupied and the other isn’t. She doesn’t work when the kids are occupied; looks like her summer schedule will be about 13-15 hours a week, I’d say. They lump all her payments (gas, errands, any shopping needed) together with her pay, and I think she gets paid via Venmo 1-2x a month. She also pet/house sits for them when they travel. Not sure if this is helpful, but from my daughter’s perspective, I know she likes having a set schedule at least 1 week out in advance so she can plan her time.
When my kids were little, I was fortunate enough to have “Camp Gramma” (my mother-in-law) down the street, so that was a lifesaver. And my husband & I have both always worked remotely as parents (for 20+ years!) so we have shared the burden as much as possible. I do think having a plan and some structure to keep your day organized is good not just for YOU but also for the kids. My youngest is 15 now, and even during summers I have to get up at 6 am to get him to his football practices Mon-Thursday by 6:30am, so I just start my day after that and use the time to get organized. Personally, I’ve never minded blocking the time to drive my kids when my calls / schedule allowed, but I know that’s not always a possibility. It gives me a chance to check in, while also taking a break from my screen and reminding me to move! Enjoy the chaos! Time flies fast!
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This is a very important subject to me. Feels like there’s no one way to get it right, but I’ve found it’s in the effort and the communication around the work/life balance that is crucial to the family being on the same page.
Every now and then I tell everyone when it’s going to be an exceptionally busy week (or day/night) and I really aim to maximize the weekends and vacations so there’s as much family time and activities as possible.
If I need to splurge here and there to make things easier and more efficient, I always find it’s worth it. Getting more time with family gets harder and harder, so you just have to do what you gotta do to make it happen.
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tim, that’s a good point. My husband and I look at our calendars together on Sunday and then we connect each evening to talk about the next day and split out the duties. Some days i feel it’s going well…other a total failure!
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I am employing this model right now! I have a summer nanny (also 19) who is averaging about 13-20 hours a week based on camps and shuttling. It’s kind of a challenge because each week is totally different! but it doesn’t make sense to have her on for 40 weeks when half is in a scheduled activity.
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That sounds reasonable. My daughter communicates with the mom of her nanny job, and that’s how it’s working for her. Only advice I would give is to try as much as possible to outline the week’s schedule in advance. The mom my daughter works for doesn’t always respond with a schedule fast enough, and for example - my daughter was trying to book a haircut and was feeling trapped in that she didn’t know her schedule for that week yet because the mom hadn’t provided it. So she just went ahead and booked her appt and told the mom when she was not available. As long as both sides can be flexible, I think it’s a good model!
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