Good for you!
Summer camp seems like one of those things required to keep up with the Jones's. The neighbors sent their kids and were talking it all up at the cookout last week, so we should send our kids, if we can afford it or not. No doubt it could be a good experience for your kids, but this is a luxury like buying a boat or other toy and should only be done with disposable cash, not put on credit.
Take your kids camping yourself or do some fun weekends at a fraction of the expense.
I had to point out to all present that ... I have a fucking full time job. I need to have childcare during the summer.........childcare is not "optional" for me.
People are dumb and shitty sometimes. Your career is going to payoff in the long-run, but in the short-term you are better off getting good care for your kids because what the hell else matters?
This past school year we had after school care for the younger kids, and were very lucky I was there in the mornings to get them on the bus.
WAIT A MINUTE! They're home. They can watch your kids!
Problem solved.
This is funny. Actually, 3 of my good friends, in the past - have all joined a particular club for the pool. It's a very expensive club, but it's also nice, outdoors, and has a kid's pool. I never joined, even though they suggested it because: 1. it's expensive, 2. I have a full time job, and 3. we have a YMCA membership for the indoor pool. I would end up spending $$$ to join a club that I would go to once a week. Because one is a SAHP, one is a teacher, and the other works from home or anywhere, really - they were all able to spend multiple afternoons a summer at the pool, together. Most of their children are girls, also (I have boys). Many times they trade kids during the weekend and summers too - their kids range from 2nd grade to 8th grade. Kids get to play, moms get the occasional break from the fighting.
Anyway - I'm actually quite happy to host their kids on weekends. One family's 2 girls don't really get along with my boys (though I like the kids fine). The other family's kids get along well with ours, and I'm happy to have them all over. The mom does not reciprocate. She just can't/ doesn't want to handle 2 boys in her house with her kids. That's okay.
Now that the kids are getting older, we are getting into the boy/girl thing. So my half introverted/ half extroverted teen boy REALLY wants to have his best friend (a girl) over. But she likes to hang out at home more. I'm not certain that her mom would actually let her come over and hang out when we aren't there. And...yeah I trust my kid but still. I keep wishing that they would just go to the park or ride down to the store or do SOMETHING in the afternoons together. Ah well, of all the families in the 'hood, all of our vacations are offset this year - so there's not a lot of friend-swapping going on.
Also, I live in kind of an expensive area. So, the traditional thing of "going to hang out with a friend" or "swapping babysitting" or ??? isn't done so much here as it is elsewhere, or maybe as it was longer ago. When you have a neighborhood with a combo of parents who need full time care vs parents who are home in the summer...it's just really hard to organize/ coordinate.
I'd just like to note how difficult it must be to have kids home full time for ten weeks. In so many neighborhoods most of the other kids are off at camp and there is nobody to play with. Being bored is good but ten weeks with nobody to hang with would be difficult at best.
For sure. I've got many friends who are dealing with that. My kids get lonely in the summer, but at least they are busy!
Plus, I dig my kids. You know, some people say "I'm not my kid's friend, I don't play with them, they need to entertain themselves." Some actually will go out of their way to play with their kids and entertain them. There's no actual right way. But I do know that I grew up with the first kind of parent. So, I can entertain myself very well (crafts, books, etc.) I was not, however, particularly close to my parents - except maybe my mom. My husband's family did stuff together. Games, hiking, camping, swimming, etc. They really DUG their kids. So, different experience. I prefer it that way. We set aside time to do stuff with our kids (whether they like it or not!).