Why Summer Camp Is A Hot Mess for Parents

KQED's Forum

KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“School’s out for the summer!” is a rallying cry for students everywhere. But for working parents, summer poses a whole set of challenges, starting with – who is going to watch the kids during the day? For many, summer camps are the answer. Camps offer the promise of exploration, adventure, and a chance to make new friends and acquire new skills. And if you have a specific hobby or interest – needlework, videography, chess – there is likely a camp for you. But getting a spot in a camp, managing the constellation of choices and conflicting schedules, and, especially, paying for a summer’s worth of camps can present major problems for families. Why is summer camp such a mess? Why aren’t there more affordable options for childcare when school is out? And how can you hack summer to find a spot for your child if you didn’t sign up for one in January? We’ll talk summer camp and hear from you: What’s your child doing this summer? Guests: Lydia Kiesling, journalist and author. Kiesling's most recent piece for Bloomberg is "How Summer Camp Became Such a Hot Mess for Parents" Eduardo Caballero, co-founder and executive director, EDMO, a summer camp in the Bay Area Jessica Calarco, expert on inequalities in education and family life; associate professor of sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:13.1	From KQED. School Francisco, I'm Grace Wan, in for Alexis Magical.
1:14.8	School's out for the summer.
1:17.4	It's a rallying cry for students everywhere.
1:21.2	But for working parents, summer poses a whole set of different challenges,
1:24.0	starting with who's going to watch the kids during the day?
1:26.3	For many, summer camps are the answer.
1:28.1	But getting a spot in a camp,
1:33.4	finding the right schedule, and paying for the camp can be challenging. Why is summer camp such a mess? And why aren't there more affordable options? We'll talk summer camp and hear from you.
1:38.3	What's your child doing this summer? That's all coming up next after this news.
2:19.3	Welcome to Forum. I'm Grace Swan, in today for Alexis Madrigal. When my kids were younger in January, my husband and I would huddle over the computer, fingers poised, ready to nab spots in various summer camps. There was the science camp, the choose-your-own-adventure camp, the bike across the city camp. Each week, the kids had a different set of activities to keep them occupied while we were working. And it wasn't just about
2:24.3	booking them a spot. We were doing the Jenga math of finding spots the same week as their friends,
2:29.4	at the same locations. To be honest, we were exhausted before the summer began, and we were not alone.
2:36.4	According to Lydia Kiesling, summer camp is fun for kids, most of the time at least, but a headache
	...

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