Summer with Kids is Expensive

We don't do daily things here. Lily is in summer Basketball....and she'll do some more swim lessons..that's about it. During the week we hang out, walk, and work in her workbooks we got her. She LOVES to "do work" so I'm grabbing that while it's here! Elias will be learning his letters and numbers better...lots of time in the sprinklers and swimmy pool...lol.
 
Our summer's aren't full of stuff to do...I'm not a big "activities" person tho.

I will have my stepdaughter here for the summer and we always send her to camp.  It costs me close to that for a month and that is with just 1 child and NO swim lessons!  We pay $100 a week for Clayton Care day camp.  It has nice long hours and they take a few outings each week....but yeah, summer sure can be expensive! 

I was hoping to plan a trip down to Galveston for us but I am not sure that we will be able to pull it all off...plus there are uniforms and school supplies among other things we will need to buy this summer too!

Kids are expensive any time of the year, period []

When I first was planning summer, I was planning my classes, the swim lessons, daily walks to the park, weekly trips to the library, coloring, painting, riding their bikes etc.. I guess the idea of camp is so appealing since I could have 2 out of the 4 gone for an entire day for 2 week sessions. Of course, now that I know how much camp costs, I could save up for next year. It isn't like we do not have savings, but we are saving to replace our carpet, a new fence and a new kitchen counter. Sigh. I think my brain is just so fried from everything.

--Sara

I just send the six year old to two morning long art camps that last one week. I try and do one in June and one in July, and now the 2 year old can take one, but of course I'll be there with her. And I'm taking a yoga class for six weeks. All that cost us just over two hundred dollars. The rest of the time we wing it. There are so many kids in our neighborhood (19 between two streets that are in between 2 and 10 years!) that they all just roam from yard to yard and house to house all day long.

this is directed at no one in particular as the same thing goes on in our neighborhood but here goes....

a pack of kids roaming the neighborhood is as annoying, irritating, and potentially as destructive as a pack of roaming dogs. many of the kids in our neighborhood seem to not have a good recall either! no one would put up with someone in our neighborhood letting their dog roam freely, in and out of everyone's yard, but it seems to be ok for the kids? i dont get it.

Our movie theatre has a kids program where you buy tickets for only about $2 each.  But you can only watch movies that already came out on video.  We found out about this at school- so watch those newsletters being sent home.
Summer school was also fun.  We just went on field trips all of the time and played a bunch of games.
But I think the best part of the summer has always been water fights.  Invest in some nice waterguns and balloons.  Your kids will love you.

We always have a bunch of neighborhood kids hanging out together playing kickball , swimming and so on so we don't have a need for summer camps. 
It gets expensive just taking the kids on day trips, for us to go to water country for the day it is at least a $300. day. Even the ice cream man charges $3.00 for a popsicle
I'm assuming when someone said roaming around they meant in the kids yards, not just any ones yard.

ORIGINAL: cyclefiend2000

this is directed at no one in particular as the same thing goes on in our neighborhood but here goes....

a pack of kids roaming the neighborhood is as annoying, irritating, and potentially as destructive as a pack of roaming dogs. many of the kids in our neighborhood seem to not have a good recall either! no one would put up with someone in our neighborhood letting their dog roam freely, in and out of everyone's yard, but it seems to be ok for the kids? i dont get it.

Well, it was obviously directed at me since it practically quoted my post. The kids in our neighborhood go from each others yard to each others yard. They stay out of the very few people's yards who don't enjoy children. They have been taught manners.

The kids in our neighborhood go from each others yard to each others yard. They stay out of the very few people's yards who don't enjoy children. They have been taught manners.

I always love to see groups of kids around by my parents house during the summer, it always makes me think about how fun it was back then

I used to nanny for four kids that had tons of camps, sports lessons, vacation Bible schools, and other stuff all day everyday.  It was INSANE!!  I literally had to be in 2-3 places at once.  I was in the car nonstop and most of the time, the kids hated going to all their camps.  No wonder the mom went back to work and hired me full time!! 

When I was a kid (not more than 2 decade ago), we just played outside all day long and went to a cottage for 2 weeks in August.  No sports, no camps, no air conditioning, no computers or video game systems - just some old bikes, rollerskates, and a swing set.  Those were the times!  Oh, we did have cheap swim lessons at the local park.

If I had a kid right now, I'd do some of the cheaper things I know about - swim lessons (I think those are important), weekly field trips with a church group, a reading club at a local bookstore where you win gift certificates all summer long, taking them to the nearest beach, and going on a camping trip as a family.  Otherwise, as long as my kids have a bike and a yard, they can make their own fun.

Kale goes to Grandma and Grandpa's for most of the summer. He loves it, they love it. It works. Kali won't go by herself of course, but I may go for a couple weeks. Last year my dad bought a pool just for Kale. One of those big a$$ Easy Set thingys. 15 feet across. Kale was afraid of water when he went there... now he swims like a fish.[]

Summer for me is cheap!

ORIGINAL: saveastray2day

ORIGINAL: cyclefiend2000

this is directed at no one in particular as the same thing goes on in our neighborhood but here goes....

a pack of kids roaming the neighborhood is as annoying, irritating, and potentially as destructive as a pack of roaming dogs. many of the kids in our neighborhood seem to not have a good recall either! no one would put up with someone in our neighborhood letting their dog roam freely, in and out of everyone's yard, but it seems to be ok for the kids? i dont get it.

Well, it was obviously directed at me since it practically quoted my post. The kids in our neighborhood go from each others yard to each others yard. They stay out of the very few people's yards who don't enjoy children. They have been taught manners.

it was directed at no one in particular because i was talking about what goes on in my particular neighborhood. maybe you kids have manners. the kids where i live do not. even the people in our neighborhood who have kids but do not let them participate in the roving pack of unsupervised youth, do not particularly like what is going on either.

the pack in our neighborhood has kids aged from 2 or 3 up to 13 or 14. i assume the older kids are supposed to watch out for the younger ones, since i never see an adult out there. the kids play in the street with no regards for oncoming cars. i cant tell you how many times i have almost hit one because they darted into the street. i caught 3 of them on our porch teasing our dogs through the windows. one slid his bike into our garage door. i could go on, but needless to say the kids are out of control and unsupervised.

ORIGINAL: Liesje

I used to nanny for four kids that had tons of camps, sports lessons, vacation Bible schools, and other stuff all day everyday.  It was INSANE!!  I literally had to be in 2-3 places at once.  I was in the car nonstop and most of the time, the kids hated going to all their camps.  No wonder the mom went back to work and hired me full time!! 

When I was a kid (not more than 2 decade ago), we just played outside all day long and went to a cottage for 2 weeks in August.  No sports, no camps, no air conditioning, no computers or video game systems - just some old bikes, rollerskates, and a swing set.  Those were the times!  Oh, we did have cheap swim lessons at the local park.

If I had a kid right now, I'd do some of the cheaper things I know about - swim lessons (I think those are important), weekly field trips with a church group, a reading club at a local bookstore where you win gift certificates all summer long, taking them to the nearest beach, and going on a camping trip as a family.  Otherwise, as long as my kids have a bike and a yard, they can make their own fun.

Thank you for reminding me of my youth. I went to a daycamp for a few weeks but mainly I was out with friends. I think part of the camp thing is that it is what many in society dictate right now. Keep the kids as busy during the summer as they are during the school year. Frankly, I wish we had year round school with a few weeks off mixed in there.

--Sara