School's out

No more pencils, no more books! No more teachers’ dirty looks!

And, to the chagrin of parents everywhere, no more guaranteed child-supervision for at least a few hours a day. This week I, like many others, faced that annual question: what to do with my seven-year-old for the next ten weeks? He’s not ready to be home alone all day, so, we’ve started looking at day care options. The state of the economy means that we’re pinching every penny we can. At the same time, we want to make sure the child is safe, secure, and enjoys his summer holiday before he dives into the rigors of second grade.

Educational day camps? There are some very nice ones, at the zoo and the museum. The price? Not so nice: ranging from $250 to over $500. Plus the day camps only run 9 – 4, whereas we have to be at work 9 – 5. (That’s actually a conservative estimate: when you count in commuting time, we’re actually often out of the house from 8 - 6 or so. But maybe we can shuffle our schedules so we overlap or something.) The museum camps are actual camping so hours aren’t a problem. But do we really want the kid to spend the whole summer sleeping in a tent?

Neighborhood community center day camp? Much more affordable: about $100/ week. These are much less structured than the museum or school camps, though, and the counselors don’t seem to be as experienced or qualified. Will my kid be safe, educated, and will he have fun?

Hire a sitter? Even the neighborhood teenagers run at least $8/hour. And do I really want to turn one of the neighborhood teenagers loose in my house all day? I’d feel a little safer hiring a bonded and insured professional sitter from a service, but they start at $12/hour. And that would be not a teenager, but a complete stranger in my home all day every day.

We considered collaborating with some of the neighbors and hiring one sitter to supervise our three kids. That brings the rate up to $18/hour, but split three ways that’s only $160 each for the week. Much more reasonable. But it still has the issue of a stranger being in my house, along with two other kids, neither of whom is nearly as mature and responsible as mine. (My son is, of course, a model child, perfect in every way.) Can I trust the sitter to take care of my house the way I’d like to? Am I going to be responsible if the sitter or one of those kids slips on my stairs and breaks a leg while I’m not home? Uh oh.

Well, we thought, maybe we can flex our schedules? How about a four-day workweek, so we each are home one day with the kid? Well, that means we only have to pay 3/5 as much for a sitter. But on the other hand, now we’ll need ten, not eight, hours a day, so it’s still $360/week.

Option	Cost/week	Cost/summer	Hours	Pros	Cons
Zoo camp	$240	$2400	9 – 4	Educational	Expensive and still need supplemental coverage
Museum camp	Average $450	$4500	M - F	Educational, exercise	Outdoors and out of town all week
Neighborhood teenager	$320	$3200	9 – 5, or more as needed	In-home, flexible hours	Trusting a teenager in my home
Professional babysitter	$480	$4800	9 – 5, or more as needed	In-home, flexible hours	Trusting a stranger in my home
Shared professional sitter	$160	$1600	9 – 5, or more as needed	In-home, flexible hours	Trusting a stranger AND other children in my home
Flexing schedule, 3-days of daycare	$360	$3600	8 – 6	In home, cheaper	Working long days, and still trusting a stranger in my home
Community center camps	$100	$1000	8-6	Cheaper, local	Less structured, less experienced counselors

It’s times like this I wonder if life would be easier if we didn’t both work. But we both love our jobs, and more than that, we both need our jobs in order to make ends meet. So quitting work to stay home for the summer isn’t really a workable option.

About those neighbors… Could we all flex our schedules, so we each take one day off and supervise the three kids? Maybe we’ll have them over for a cookout this weekend and discuss it.

What do other people do?