How I Plan and Execute Summer as a Working Mom

Summer. Whether you're eagerly awaiting or dreading the Tetris of the schedule, it's happening.

For me, summer gives me a headache. I miss the days of daycare where I just continued to drop E off at 7:30am and picked her up between 5:30 and 6pm. Bam, Full-day care. But summer? No, its a 9-3:30 deal. It is a working parent's nightmare.

First, can we at least make camps start the same time as school? or perhaps offer actual full-day camps? You know 8-5? 8:30-4:30 even? And heaven forbid you have camps at two different locations. That gives me my lunch hour to run from one place to the next. Summer is exhausting.

I won't even complain about the cost. I do not know how working parents that cannot afford camps do summer. For us, we spend an average of $400 a week for camps. Some are little less and some are little more. So, we've spent about $2000 on camps alone.

Then, I have to pay a summer sitter to pick E up at 3:30 and hang out until we get home at 5:30ish. So, tack on another $15 an hour. And for the 8-9am hour? Yeah, camps have "before" care. Tack on an extra $5 an hour. I know its not bad, but that's $25 each week, in addition to the camp cost and the sitter to pick her up.

This does not take into account twirling competitions, twirling camp, summer soccer or vacation.

Summer is a giant game of Tetris. Which parent can go in late, which parent can leave early. Which parent can use her lunch to be the go-between (hint its me for the go-between). I am super lucky that my husband is willing and does help out when he can. But, I work in Fort Worth so its much faster for me.