Good, Old-Fashioned Family Fun: Alternatives to Over-Scheduling Sumer Camps

If you ask your average young adult today, they will tell you that growing up it felt like their parents couldn’t get rid of them fast enough in the summer. Not that they didn’t like having us around, it was having us underfoot 24/7 that would drive anyone crazy. Most have distinct memories of their mothers grabbing their tote bags, herding their children into the car, and driving off to whatever camp was the flavor of the week. As soon as one camp ended, another session, or a different type of camp altogether, would begin. There was theatre camp, tennis camp, soccer camp, general sports camp, general day camp, and a two-week sleep-away camp in the mountains. Sometimes, there were two different camps in one day if they were only offered for a half-day. In retrospect, going to camp was a lot of fun and a great way to meet children my age, but was it really best for the children to be shuffling between camps all summer?



Most young adults who have siblings spent many of their childhood summers fighting with their siblings, when home, because everyone was so tired from going to different camps all day. There is also the memory of the parents spending a lot of their time driving around the city to pick up their children. Summer camps are, undoubtedly, a great way for children to learn how to interact with others, learn new things, and to be active over the summer. On the other hand, being in camps for the whole summer is too much. Today, there is a tendency to over-schedule children all year-round, but especially in the summer. They are asked to be in X, Y, and Z camps and be good in all of them, especially true of the sports camps. It puts a lot of pressure on children and, really, on the whole family. Perhaps, the best way to alleviate this pressure is to allow for one, maybe two, sessions of camps that your children are most interested in, also allowing them to get more excited about going to camp because they got to pick it themselves. Let the rest of the summer be family time.



This is particularly important for the working mom. If you work all summer, perhaps you do want your children in camps so that you don’t have to worry about hiring a nanny for a few months, but in that case, make sure that they are camps that your children WANT to be in as opposed to just putting them in camps for the sake of having something to do. There are so many fun things that you can do together in the afternoons and on the weekends though, so make sure that their camp doesn’t go all week and/or is only for part of the day (sleep-away camps excluded of course).



There are so many amazing family activities that you can do over the summer. You can grab your backpack/travel bag and all go for a hike, or even just explore your neighborhood. You can have a picnic in the backyard instead of dinner inside, at the table. Another idea is to create a sort of family camp, where you and a couple other families get together and do camp-like activities like sports, competitions, tie-dye, etc. but do them as a family.



Over-scheduling children is tempting, and certainly the easiest way to keep them busy and entertained over the summer without the help of the Mario Brothers, but it’s not always best for them. Good, old-fashioned, creative play is fun for them, and for you. And above all, you get to spend time to together with your family, which during the school year is hard to do. Take advantage of your summers together as a family because, unfortunately, they are limited!