What did you love about daycare and summer camp as a kid growing up? My mom was a SAHM and then a teacher, so I never really had that experience. I'm looking in to working full time, which means daycare and summer camps for the kids, and wondering what the positive experiences might be for my kiddos. (Right now, I'm just focused on the logistical headache of getting everyone where they need to be, and would love to focus on the positives).
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I went to a home daycare for years and am still besties with the daughter of the mom who ran it! This is 32 years on! My brother and I went there from age 2 ish until we were in school, then summers there. We had all kinds of adventures...most of which wouldn’t be allowed now! Biking all over, playing at the creek down the road, getting ice cream. I mostly remember the times when we were older. I live 3.5 hrs from
The town I grew up in but still see my friend and her parents regularly. It was a life changing relationship.I had no issues whatsoever and I think it was super positive. I thought my mom was awesome that she had an important job and I saw her manage that and us all through growing up. I think it empowered me as an adult to not feel pressure to stay at home and taught me skills to juggle home and work life when I had my own kids. I met a lot of different kids and have friendships to this day from the experience.
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I was in daycare age 2-5, after school care for 2 hours a day K-6th, and summer camp 6 weeks of the summer, K-6th.
The first thing that comes to mind is very positive relationships with a variety of caregivers. I have vague memories of my daycare teachers and I know I loved them (I still remember one's name). I have clearer memories of my afterschool and camp counselors and really liked them, looking up to them, and I still remember their names and faces.
I spent lots of time with same-age and close-age peers. At least half of my friends were from these places. I'm glad I spent my childhood with supervised socialization, rather than just playing with my brother or alone.
Lastly, I worked at the daycare when I got older, and I think they provided a much more well-rounded set of daily activities rather than I'd be able to do if I were a SAHM.
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So, I went to summer daycare as a kid, and I don't have terribly fond memories of it, but both of my parents worked, so we didn't have a choice. I grew up in a small town, so daycare centers with summer programs were the only option. One summer we actually had an incident with one of the teachers (at the same daycare I had gone to as a young child), and my mother withdrew us immediately and got the teacher fired. We switched to a different center after that. Some of the activities were fun, like we went bowling, swimming, and to the movie theater every week, but all of the kids were from different schools, so I only saw them in the summer and didn't maintain any of the friendships. At the new center they let me help in the baby room, which I enjoyed more than hanging out with the other kids. I was much happier and have fonder memories of when I was a bit older and stayed home when my mom was no longer working.
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I went to sleepaway camp for a few summers and LOVED it! I went back and worked at one of them as a counselor for a few summers, met my husband and a great group of friends that are still our core group to this day.
My mom was a teacher so she had summers off, but I'm looking forward to all of the great camps available for my kids. This is our first summer signing up DS1 for all sorts of things and I think it's great that he'll get so many different experiences all over town - he's doing Spanish immersion, theater, religious, and gymnastics. And there are others we may try in the future - arts, yoga, nature, coding, robotics, cooking, etc.
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I did not do camp or daycare as a kid because my grandma lived with us but I can give you the opposite perspective...I was always SO jealous of the kids that went to camp. My grandma was awesome and played with us a ton, but I wanted to be with other kids and doing other experiences (granted, much of my knowledge of camp was weaned from books, so it may not be accurate).
Anyway, I felt so strongly about it that even though I am a teacher now, and off summers, I sent my son to summer camp last year. It was the best thing I could have done! He had been shy/timid but grew so much. He got to swim everyday, learned to fish and horseback ride and still talks about it almost daily. Plus, I got to avoid the technology battle all summer. Truthfully, summer camp was one of the best decisions we made!
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My mom was a SAHM growing up, but we did go to camps in the summer, and I looked forward to it every year! We did camp at the Y and had a blast swimming, playing and field trips every so often, like bowling, movies and rollerskating. I have equally fond memories of staying home in the neigborhood and going to camp. These days though I don't feel like I could let my kids have the freedom to roam the neigborhood and the woods like I did as a kid, so in my mind a camp would be much preferred.
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I didn't do camp, we belonged to a pool club as my mom was a SAHM and with three kids, this was the most economical option.
Now, my son does go to camp and this year, he's expressed an opinion about what he would like to attend. So, rather than do my standby option of all the weeks at the same nature based camp, he has asked to do art camp, sports camp and lego camp. It's logistically a bit challenging because not one of those camps is in our town and none of them are full day, but we're making it work.
I think the biggest thing for him is that it's an environment in which he feels comfortable. My son makes friends everywhere, so it's not a big deal if he attends camp with kids he knows or not.
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I did summer camp (day camp, not sleep away) and after school camp throughout my childhood, and then worked at camps in HS. They were a huge part of my life. When I in early elementary I was kind of meh about camp. I loved the weeks my mom signed me up for arts and crafts camp, but the regular day camp was less my jam. I was shy and had a kind of hard time making friends. And I was jealous of all the TV they got to watch. But by later elementary and definitely through middle and high school the people I saw at camp every summer were the regulars and I had a great group of friends. I started to appreciate getting to swim every day and play games, do dance, art, archery, field trips etc. My friends who stayed at home seemed to do the same thing every day and that started to seem boring. Anyway, I absolutely love my camp experiences and am so excited for my kids to experience the same.
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