WORKING PARENTS AND SUMMER CAMP

All children want to attend summer camp when summer comes around.  Most of their friends will be doing what they love, be it swimming, computer learning, or just being with someone instead of being alone while their parents work.  If you have a stay-at-home parent while the other works, that may not present such a problem, but when both parents work, or worse yet, when you are a single parent, then the prospect of having to deal with summer camp becomes a huge problem.

Financially

With today's financial weak market and the recession not seeming to find a quick turnaround, parents either must work at keeping their job, or cannot afford to send their children to summer camp.  Summer camp may be disastrously expensive.

Full-season camps lasting form seven to nine weeks will cost a parent approximately $3,000 to $9,000. That's one flabbergasting figure. 

Home Solution

The solution for taking care of a child for the summer may mean that one of the parents must quit their job, or at least take a sabbatical to entertain the child for the summer.  This means cutting the family finances in half, besides the cost of taking the child to movies, camping, and otherwise being with the child. Obviously this is not exactly a solution that most families can easily afford, again being aware of the financial problems facing us now.

Trading Off

Occasionally parents find a solution for the summer camp problem by trading off with neighbors and taking a car-pool approach.  That means that if there are 7 neighbors all together, then each is responsible for all the kids one day a week, including their own.  This presents another unique problem as few parents can take a day off in the middle of the week to provide "summer camp" care for a bunch of kids!

The Final Frontier

Now that the problems regarding summer camp have been exposed, we now need a final solution.  Thankfully, there is one.

A very thoughtful couple has formed Host & Care, http://hostandcare.com/  which is a global community connecting parents of children with travelers the world wide over who will exchange room and board for entertaining the children during the summer with educational programs, or simply fun, as per the parent's wishes.  Let's face it, providing room and board for one individual is certainly a smaller financial outlay to keep your child occupied over the summer than the cost of a summer camp.

Further Advantages

Performing an exchange of work for room and board is a fun proposal.  Mostly because your children will become exposed to making a new friend, and learn about foreign languages first hand, as well as learning of the different customs and mores of another culture.  Putting together this type of arrangement does not necessitate paying the individual cash, reporting it to Immigration, having to sign complicated contracts as with most au pair arrangements, and when it's all done, chances are that this individual will return year after year while becoming close to you and your family.